Deal: Schools statewide awarded $37 million technology grant
Connections for Classrooms funds will help implement digital learning, improve student achievement
Gov. Nathan Deal today announced 103 local education authorities will be awarded more than $36.7 million from the Connections for Classrooms, a collaborative funding effort between the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA), the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) and the One Georgia Authority (OGA) to help ensure classrooms across the state have the high-speed broadband access required for digital and blended learning.
“It’s imperative that Georgia’s students have access to new, state-of-the-art technology in order to learn necessary 21st century skills and succeed in our economy,” said Deal. “In 2012, I created and charged my Digital Learning Task Force with developing a cohesive strategy to improve student achievement through digital learning implementation across the state. A key portion of its recommendations was to build out the technology infrastructure necessary for effective digital learning, and these funds will go a long way toward helping us achieve that goal and bridge the digital divide in our school.”
Connections for Classrooms is part of a broader statewide effort to expand classroom high-speed broadband access in response to Gov. Deal’s Digital Learning Task Force recommendations as well as the state’s efforts to enable personalized learning for Georgia students.
Applicants were required to detail their technology expansion plans and explain how grant awards would enable them to implement digital and blended learning and improve student achievement. This year, 102 districts and one state charter school received grant awards, totaling $39 million. The five top scoring districts — Thomas, Peach, Tattnall, Ben Hill, and Laurens Counties — will receive full funding to have wireless built out to every classroom once grant funds are paired with estimated federal E-Rate funds.
Click here for a full list of counties awarded the Connections to Classrooms grant. For a map of grant funds awarded by district, click here.