1/n Short tweetstorm on our new Policy Brief which asks "How many school-age children lack internet access in Indiana?" and "what factors are associated with not having internet?" This is an important issue as we grapple with COVID.
#Indiana #broadband
projects.cberdata.org/176/how-many-s…
#Indiana #broadband
projects.cberdata.org/176/how-many-s…
2/n We examined both ACS (regional data) and IPUMS data (micro-records) to obtain estimates of school corporation (district) rates of internet access. 
3/n This is the PUMA Code (county+) levels which show the level of geographic variation of access in a more familiar way.
4/n Characteristics of access follow predictable patterns. Rurality, poverty and single parent households are all contributors to lack of internet.
5/n The results of a Logit model give us interpretation of these data at the margin.
6/n Our appendices show the results at the school corporation level, by county. This is a sample page of a 14 page table.
7/n What's this mean? There are 42,000 households with school aged children who do not have internet (about 6.5%). That means between 68,000 and 85,000 kids don't have internet access.
Note: That is about one full graduating class of Hoosier students.
Note: That is about one full graduating class of Hoosier students.
8/n School has been out of session for five months, and we are about 3-4 weeks away from resumption of school. The kids who didn't have online class are the ones most likely at risk of falling behind or falling out.
9/n As we look to the 20-21 school year, the stark inevitability of many corporations going to virtual only is apparent. But, this means potentially leaving behind a large cohort of students. These will be clustered in small rural schools @INDSRSA and in large urban schools.
10/n Our estimates understate the practical problem. Schools with a large share of students without internet may not even attempt online education, and many who have it may find it insufficient for traditional online classes.
11/n State gov't cannot address the entirety of this problem, but we must acknowledge it is a big, and likely expanding problem for the provision of public education in Indiana (a Constitutional req't).
12/12 This has to be said. If the Constitution requires you do something, and you cannot do it because of unavailable funding, you have a policy problem. The name for it is an unfunded liability.
Indiana has a large unfunded liability in the provision of public education.
Indiana has a large unfunded liability in the provision of public education.
