Dive Brief:
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he is donating $20 million to Education Super Highway, a nonprofit committed to increasing access to high-speed Internet in America's public schools.
- Zuckerberg has made other large donations to educational causes in an attempt to help them get access to faster Internet.
- Five years ago, Zuckerberg donated $100 million to public schools in Newark, NJ. Last year, he donated $120 million to Bay Area schools.
Dive Insight:
Education has been a long-time cause for Zuckerberg. Last month, Zuckerberg said his wife, Priscilla Chan, will run a new private school for underserved children in California.
"Most schools in the US are connected, but less than half have high-speed broadband," Zuckerberg said. "This means most students can't use personalized learning software that helps them learn content they're interested in, at their own pace and in a style customized to them. And it means teachers can't access many of the resources available online."
Education Super Highway said 23% of school districts don't meet its minimum bandwidth goal.
A recent Pew Internet report found 31% of homes with school-aged children with incomes below $50,000 don't have a broadband connections, and argues that low-income students are at a disadvantage without broadband access in order to do school work.
