Groups say NC should use federal coronavirus money to give computers to poor students
Several racial justice groups want North Carolina to use $95.6 million in federal coronavirus aid to give computers and mental health resources to disadvantaged students.
The switch to remote learning while North Carolina public schools are closed could leave some students behind, several state and national groups warn. In a letter Monday to State Superintendent Mark Johnson and the State Board of Education, the groups say the state should use federal stimulus money to help vulnerable students learn during the crisis.
“North Carolina has a constitutional obligation to provide a sound, basic education to all students,” Tyler Whittenberg, chief counsel for justice systems reform at the Durham-Based Southern Coalition for Social Justice, said in a news release Monday.
“That requirement does not disappear when hardships arise. It is the state’s responsibility to ensure that the most vulnerable students have access to a quality public education that supports their academic, physical, mental and social wellbeing.”
The letter was signed by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the Advancement Project, the Alliance For Educational Justice and Texas Appleseed.
The $2 trillion federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act includes money that can be used to help K-12 schools deal with challenges such as feeding and educating students while schools are closed.
North Carolina getting school coronavirus aid
The state Department of Public Instruction projects North Carolina could get $388.9 million in grants. This doesn’t include the $95.6 million in federal education relief that the state could get out of a $3 billion fund for the nation’s governors.
The advocacy groups say that $95.6 million should be used to help economically disadvantaged students, children with disabilities, homeless students, immigrant students and youth in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.
It’s unclear, though, who will handle how the $95.6 million is spent. State lawmakers and state board members said Thursday it may be up to Gov. Roy Cooper to distribute the money.
DPI is encouraging but not requiring school districts to give computers for students to use. For instance, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system has given 80,000 devices to families and the Wake County school system is giving 28,000 devices.
The advocacy groups want the aid money to go toward providing computers and free internet service for all students in need. They also want the state to prohibit school districts from monitoring how the computers are used during the closures.
“While schools are physically closed due to COVID-19, access to and use of school-provided technology are necessary for many students to receive the sound basic education they are guaranteed by the North Carolina State Constitution,” the groups say in their joint letter. “In this situation, requiring students to consent to being monitored before receiving education-related technology forces them to forfeit legitimate privacy and Fourth Amendment rights or be denied access to a sound basic education during the COVID-19 crisis.”
The groups say the money should also be used to help provide vulnerable students with mental health resources, including access to school psychologists, therapists and social workers.
This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 4:36 PM.
