School closings have exposed the gap in internet access. Now is the time to close it.

Many school children in the Carolinas will be learning at home for at least part of the upcoming school year. Public officials should seize the opportunity to remedy a longstanding, embarrassing gulf in children’s educational opportunity, the internet gap.

In-home education will place big burdens on working parents, as is widely acknowledged. Yet the middle-class-centric presumption seems to be that every family household has the technology necessary for successful remote education. Little attention has focused on the fact that over one in six PreK-12 students in the United States lacks minimally adequate internet access or computer technology. Our analyses of the most recent American Community Survey indicate that 4.5 million students lack internet access and 5 million students do not have a laptop or tablet computer device in their homes. Counting overlap in these figures, that means over 8.5 million students lack at least one of these essential components to remote education.

The internet gap is a glaring factor in perpetuating class-based education disparities: over 30 percent of all low-income children in America do not have minimal technology to succeed in remote education, in contrast with just 7.6 percent of middle-income families. A year of health-crisis-induced remote education will widen an already-disgraceful gap in learning, dividing the haves and have-nots in this segregated nation for years to come.

Let’s be clear: We do not recommend that children be forced to go to unsafe schools. But if children are to learn from home, let’s equip all of them with the technology necessary to succeed. We ask leaders in North and South Carolina to implement a four-part solution.

First, it is time to upgrade the digital infrastructure in our communities, especially rural communities that have long been cut off from the internet world. Broadband access is a necessary public utility. We know every household needs electricity and water, but what about internet access? It is shameful that we have allowed rural communities to be shut out for so long. The current health and economic crisis offers an opportunity to right that wrong.

Second, we need to subsidize low-income families with internet subscriptions. At an average cost of 50 dollars per month, we can open the digital world to our neediest children.

Third, we should provide each low-income student with a Chromebook-equivalent tablet.

Fourth, we should train parents and students in how to use this technology for education. This is a challenge in a socially-distanced world, but we must figure out to reach families at their doorsteps.

What would it cost to ensure that every child participates fully in remote education?

Of North Carolina’s 1,597,574 PreK-12 students, we estimate that 19 percent will not be able to participate in online education unless we act now. About 230,618 students need internet subscriptions and 169,787 need computer equipment. We can provide these tools for the coming year for as little as $189 million, which is just 10 percent of the amount the N.C. legislature previously approved for pandemic relief.

In South Carolina, 22 percent of the 777,185 students in preK through 12th grade are unable to participate in remote education today. We can solve that problem by providing 132,361 students with internet subscriptions and 93,030 students with computer tablets at a cost of $107 million this year.

Add the costs of equipping communities with broadband access and reaching families at their doorstep, and we can upgrade the Carolinas to 21st century standards.

Our nation’s leaders are offering trillion-plus dollar economic stimulus packages to already-wealthy businesses. Yet with a much more modest expenditure, North Carolina and South Carolina can level the remote-education playing field for all PreK-12 students. Equity for the next generation starts with treating the internet the same way we treat electricity, sewage, and water -- as a necessary utility that every family can expect in their home. Only when that happens will remote education become a fair enterprise.