Every Monday, Amber Payne and Drew Davis drive half a mile from their home near Ford on the Spokane Reservation to pick up packets of school work for their three kids, ages 5, 8 and 11.
They are among the majority of families on the reservation who don’t have an internet connection to participate in online classes after Wellpinit schools returned to remote learning amid rising COVID-19 cases. Teachers and administrators estimate about 1 in 4 students on the reservation have internet access at home, a deficit they say is hurting students’ learning and well-being.
The federal government stepped in to help when Congress passed a roughly $3 trillion pandemic relief package in March, sending $8 billion to tribal governments. The Spokane Tribe invested $4.7 million in a broadband project that would provide wireless internet to most of the reservation, but a year-end deadline to spend the funds threatens the critical infrastructure work.