Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and Congressman Tony Cárdenas toured Cárdenas Elementary School to promote the impact of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) ) in schools by providing students with devices and services to connect them to the Internet.

“We in this district believe that access to high-speed Internet connectivity is a civil right for our students,” Carvalho said. “Without that connectivity, your school day ends with the last campaign, which means there is no other ability to continue your studies at home.”

Through the fund, the Andrés y María Cárdenas Elementary School, named after the congressman's parents, has received 174 computing devices for students to use at home. In addition, 131 students received LTE service and seven students received high-speed Internet service at home.

On May 30, Carvalho and Cárdenas demonstrated the effects of the fund by giving a brief tour of a fourth-grade math class, where each student had their own laptop to do their work.

“This is vitally important for the student, particularly now after the pandemic,” said Carvalho. “We have software, we have digital content that they can access. … But beyond that, since we created a parent and family academy, parents can access the same device and the same connectivity to get information about their child's academic performance [and] their attendance.

“Connectivity creates an environmental and indispensable reality for our students and our families.”

The superintendent also said parents can access the school bus schedule, what meals are served at the school, and curricular courses.

The ECF is a $7.171 billion program funded by Congress as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which helped schools and libraries purchase the devices and services needed for remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. 19. According to the FCC, California reportedly received about $950 million in ECF funds.

“In this hyper-connected society of ours, the digitally disconnected are initially at an academic disadvantage, [but] over time a terrible economic deficit,” Carvalho said. "So to provide these opportunities is to provide [a] real-world education that can't be substituted for anything else."

Carvalho went on to say that LAUSD is dependent on federal funds and the ECF. He said the district spends about $10 million each month to support student connectivity. He also added that the show will go down in a few months.

“The question for the nation is 'what then?'” Carvalho asked. “Should we disconnect our children from an educational opportunity that they now assume is their right? That can't be reality."

Cárdenas took the podium next, saying the funding was to ensure that no student was left behind, especially those from low-income families who have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

“I'm here to say how proud I am of LAUSD for having withdrawn $280 million, its fair share of the funds that the federal government sent so that schools like this one can keep every child connected,” said Cárdenas.

Cárdenas expressed anger towards other members of the House of Representatives who want to cut educational programs that benefit schools like Cárdenas Elementary.

"I've been doing this for 27 years… I've never been more angry in my career to see what some of my colleagues want to do in Washington," Cardenas said. “We send funds locally for just $2 per meal, and some of my colleagues want to say, 'No, we're going to cut that from you.''

“It would be a shame if we did something like that to the people who need us the most.”

Asked if he is looking at a specific bill or how much money it would take to keep the ECF program going, Cárdenas said his goal is to preserve the $7 billion that has already been put in place.

Carvalho clarified that the ECF is a multi-year investment that he believes should be funded regularly. While some members of Congress are primarily concerned with national security, the biggest threat to the nation, he said, is that young people are not getting an adequate education.

“That is where radicalized ideologies appear. That is where the undermining of democracy occurs, so for those who are concerned about national security, education is the right investment. Connectivity is the right investment.

“The children who are in crisis today after the pandemic were exactly the same children who were in crisis before the pandemic. They are simply in a deeper crisis. … For someone to think that they are no longer in crisis, they are wrong.”