Assuming MB's amendment has passed I'll just introduce this.
AN ACT
To make sure that schools have educational devices for their students and high speed internet in schools.
Be it enacted by the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia assembled,
Section 1. Title
This legislation may be cited as the School Technology Grants Act of 2021.
Section 2. Content
1. $75 billion shall be appropriated to school districts across Atlasia for purchasing devices that may include buying laptops/tablets/desktop computers/iPads/iMacs/Macbooks/ for educational use towards students.
2. $5 billion shall be appropriated towards making sure that every school in Atlasia has access to high speed WiFi.
32. The Government of the Republic of Atlasia shall have full responsibility for funding everything in this Act.
43. No federal government funds may be used for purchase of new or additional school security equipment, including but not limited to surveillance cameras, facial recognition devices, or metal detectors.
Section 3. Taking Effect
1. This Act shall take effect immediately following the passage of this bill.
As has been said, we've allocated plenty towards making sure all areas of Atlasia get high-speed internet access, including school districts. It isn't a problem that needs to be solved a second time in a separate bill like this one.
And on a separate note, there really ought to be some kind of more targeted way to approach this problem; as AGA has mentioned, not all schools will need these devices. Targeting lower-income school districts or districts with less internet infrastructure might work better than just throwing laptops at every student. In the latter case there might also need to be a section to tie this bill's implementation to that of our previous broadband bills to prevent schools ending up with devices that they can't use.
Fully agree. Giving excess laptops to districts that already have sets of laptops for their students would not only be an extra cost for our government but also be environmentally wasteful.
