Georgia schools awarded $37 million technology grant

ATLANTA — A total of 103 local education authorities will be awarded more than $36.7 million from the Connections for Classrooms, a collaborative funding effort between the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA), the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) and the One Georgia Authority (OGA) to help ensure classrooms across the state have the high-speed broadband access required for digital and blended learning.

“It’s imperative that Georgia’s students have access to new, state-of-the-art technology in order to learn necessary 21st century skills and succeed in our economy,” Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said in a news release. “In 2012, I created and charged my Digital Learning Task Force with developing a cohesive strategy to improve student achievement through digital learning implementation across the state. A key portion of its recommendations was to build out the technology infrastructure necessary for effective digital learning, and these funds will go a long way toward helping us achieve that goal and bridge the digital divide in our school.”

Connections for Classrooms is part of a broader statewide effort to expand classroom high-speed broadband access in response to Gov. Deal’s Digital Learning Task Force recommendations as well as the state’s efforts to enable personalized learning for Georgia students.