SB 104-09: COMET Act of 2021 (Passed)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Again though, is the 70 billion the right number for just the poorer students or is that number based on everyone getting a laptop regardless of income?

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

I'd like to apologize for not responding to the question about overlap and to answer the question by Senator Koopa, lets say there is a pandemic like this one, should poorer student be disadvantaged by not having a laptop or tablet and not being able to access the learning that a student can get by having a computer. For instance, my textbooks can be accessed online which means that you can learn almost anywhere. Also, students can learn from websites like Khan Academy if you give every student a laptop.

Schools can have after school tutoring and it is more easier for someone who poorer to do it online than to do it at school because their parents would have to travel to school to pick them up if they had to stay at school. Also from personal experience, I have a class on robotics and coding in school, and laptops are nearly essential, especially in coding.

The idea of students without laptops being able to access remote learning should a COVID-like situation occur is a good idea, provided the poorer students also are provided WiFi hotspots by their school district so that they can actually access the content. The after-school online stuff isn't bad either. However, while online tools can help with teaching certain concepts to students, I'm still not 110% convinced that giving every single student their own personal iPad or Chromebook is necessary in a non-emergency scenario. I can vote for this bill if it's just for poorer students being able to access after-school content or remote learning, but not necessarily for the other stuff.

[Joseph Cao]

It is a little tricky in the sense that you can't control what students do with the devices. Nobody is going to guarantee that students go to online courses and learn them in the absence of teachers to supervise that, and they have no reason to do so if it isn't accounted for in the curriculum somehow. More broadly there isn't a whole lot that can be done that doesn't tie back to some kind of consideration about the students' existing curricula which we at the federal level are obviously hard-pressed to micromanage like this.

I assume the emergency scenario Ishan's talked about is precisely why the bill was written in the first place, though. Mileage may vary on the extent to which One Device Per Child schemes are necessary for emergencies.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Lets get back on this.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

We need to get back on this now, and we need a new sponsor, otherwise the bill will be automatically tabled.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I realize this fell by the wayside but this still needs a sponsor.

[S019]

I'm a bit worried about the costs of this, truth be told

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]

Also in addition to a substantial upfront cost, what provisions would/are made for technical support?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

We need answers, and a sponsor, now. We're already past the deadline, so if nobody assumes sponsorship within 24 hours I am tabling this.

[Joseph Cao]

We're still within 24 hours, aren't we?

I can sponsor.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Senators have 24 hours to object to the sponsorship of Joseph Cao.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Hearing no objection, Senator Cao is recognized as sponsor.

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]

Fellow Senators, as I had a similar bill in the draft stage in the event I won the Southern Governorship back in the day. I figured I might as well add some of those elements to this bill. To this end I propose the following amendments:

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 Educational Technology Grants Act of 2021.


Section 2. Content

1. $75 billion shall be appropriated to school districts and homeschooling students across Atlasia for purchasing devices and educational software. That may include buying laptops/tablets/desktop computers/iPads/iMacs/Macbooks/ for educational use.
2. Funding will be subject to means testing.
3. Funding will be available for two years and then subject to a full review to analyse the educational effectiveness. The Senate then decide if to continue funding for an additional three years.
4. The Government of the Republic of Atlasia shall have full responsibility for funding everything in this Act.
5. 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. Support Services

1. Tech Support will include using the existing school technical support staff, who will be eligible to receive training in the relevant devices and technologies.
2. An Atlasian Education Tech Support networking website created to enable better support of those making use of this program.
3. Devices are the property of the Republic of Atlasia and maybe bought at the end of their period of life for $1. There will be no further support provided in relation to this act after this point.
4. Devices not purchased at end of life are to be returned for refurbishment. These will then be used as backup and replacement devices for broken, stolen damaged devices.


Section 4. Taking Effect
1. This Act shall take effect immediately following the passage of this bill.

Additions
minor readjustment of letters/numbers
Removals

[S019]

Objection, I do not support the use of means testing to distribute these resources. I also really don't understand the ban on surveillance cameras, which sounds stupid, so I plan on introducing an amendment to get rid of that. Also I'm confused how these devices are the property of the federal government, as I understand it, this is the federal government giving grant money to states and regions.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

An objection having been raised, a vote on the amendment is now open. Senators, please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

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 Educational Technology Grants Act of 2021.


Section 2. Content

1. $75 billion shall be appropriated to school districts and homeschooling students across Atlasia for purchasing devices and educational software. That may include buying laptops/tablets/desktop computers/iPads/iMacs/Macbooks/ for educational use.
2. Funding will be subject to means testing.
3. Funding will be available for two years and then subject to a full review to analyse the educational effectiveness. The Senate then decide if to continue funding for an additional three years.
4. The Government of the Republic of Atlasia shall have full responsibility for funding everything in this Act.
5. 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. Support Services

1. Tech Support will include using the existing school technical support staff, who will be eligible to receive training in the relevant devices and technologies.
2. An Atlasian Education Tech Support networking website created to enable better support of those making use of this program.
3. Devices are the property of the Republic of Atlasia and maybe bought at the end of their period of life for $1. There will be no further support provided in relation to this act after this point.
4. Devices not purchased at end of life are to be returned for refurbishment. These will then be used as backup and replacement devices for broken, stolen damaged devices.


Section 4. Taking Effect
1. This Act shall take effect immediately following the passage of this bill.

Additions
minor readjustment of letters/numbers
Removals

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]

Aye

[Saint Milei]

aye

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

How is "means testing" intended to be defined under this amendment?

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]

How is "means testing" intended to be defined under this amendment?

Simply put it's to see if they have means to do make the purchase without that help.

Now I deliberately hadn't give a hard definition for thresholds and levels of support as I figured this should be discussed in good faith. But our bourgeois colleague from New Jersey seems to be worried that his elitist posterior wont get a lollipop if this is mean tested.

[Joseph Cao]

Thanks to Muad'dib for the amendment. While this is again redundant, like a lot of what I've been doing lately, it does need to be said that this amendment is in line with the more targeted vision I have had regarding this bill as something more than an indiscriminate handout of technological resources to everyone, including large numbers of students and school districts that already have access to them.

As such, AYE on the amendment.

[AGA]

Aye

[S019]

How is "means testing" intended to be defined under this amendment?

Simply put it's to see if they have means to do make the purchase without that help.

Now I deliberately hadn't give a hard definition for thresholds and levels of support as I figured this should be discussed in good faith. But our bourgeois colleague from New Jersey seems to be worried that his elitist posterior wont get a lollipop if this is mean tested.

More that means testing can often be very subjective and result in aid being denied to those who need it, I'd rather give out too much aid than too little, anyways NAY on the amendment. I was a bit worried about the cost of this, mostly because I'm not sure where this $75 billion number came from, and seeing the math on how we reached that specific number would be helpful, once we have the math, then we can decide if this is too little or too much.

[WD]

Nay.

[OBD]

Nay

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

For now, I'll vote Aye. I'm generally not a fan of means testing, and when applied I prefer a generous threshold, but for the same reason I don't want to pay for Donald Trump's kids' college, I don't think wealthy, (presumably) high-performing school districts need the aid. I will support repealing parts of the amendment if we don't come to an agreement.