TEMPLE, Texas — In a Wednesday press release, Gov. Greg Abbott announced $420 million would go towards a reimbursement program to help Texas public schools with the cost of purchased Wi-Fi hotspots, laptops, tablets, and other eLearning devices that allowed students to learn remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program will use federal CARES Act funding and is jointly administered by the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
The release said the program would build on Operation Connectivity, a previous program announced by Abbott in May to help students connect with their school districts online.
While school districts are grateful there is more help on the horizon, the state did not explain how it will distribute the funding.
Temple Independent School District Superintendent Bobby Ott told 6 News there would be a webinar for school districts Nov. 25 to explain the process.
Ott said Temple ISD could have up to $160,000 of technology expenses eligible for reimbursement but he had no idea how much they could receive once the money gets spread out.
"Statewide $420 million is budget dust," Ott said. "That will go quick as far as the vast needs we have our there with respect to technology. "I don't know how they are going to prioritize the funding awards. I hope we have an opportunity."
Operation Connectivity has already helped Temple ISD by paying half of it's $400,000 e-learning expenses before the fall semester started which allowed the school district to put cameras in it's class rooms. That program helped school districts pay for the equipment upfront instead of reimbursing the district.
Texas school districts will be able to start applying for the new funding Nov. 20. The TEA will hold a webinar that day, which will explain the details of the application process.
Houston-based TEGNA reporter Anastasiya Bolton spoke to Operation Connectivity Project Lead Gaby Rowe about the new funding Wednesday.
Rowe said the state asked school districts to estimate the technology costs up until the beginning of August, and those estimates were used to come up with the $420 Million. Rowe said state did not know how much schools districts spent after that time.
The state did purchase devices for districts earlier in the year and Rowe said she expects even more districts to need help now.
"Looking at the number of districts that participated in the bulk purchase alone we had 908 districts participate," Rowe said. "We fully expect that the number of districts that participate in this program will be at least this high if not higher."
Rowe said there are more than 1200 school districts across Texas. She said the goal of Operation Connectivity would be to have all students be connected to their district online by the start of the 2021 fall semester.