Title
Authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings on the effects of the "Digital Divide" on students in the Philadelphia Public Schools; to investigate ways to bridge the divide in public schools; and to compare current efforts in Philadelphia with initiatives in other states, school districts and municipalities.
Body
WHEREAS, According to a recent report by the United States Department of Commerce entitled Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide the gap in access to computers in the United States continues to place a heavy burden on poor and minority populations; and
WHEREAS, According to the report households with incomes of $75,000 or more are more than twenty times more likely to have access to the internet than those at the lowest economic levels, and more than nine times as likely to have a computer at home; and
WHEREAS, Whites are more likely to have access to the Internet from home than African Americans or Latinos from any location; and
WHEREAS, The "digital divide" based on education and income have increased in the last year alone. Between 1997 and 1998 the divide between those at the highest and lowest education levels increase 25% and the divide between those at the highest and lowest income levels grew 29%; and
WHEREAS, Nearly 80% of households earning above $75,000 owned a PC in 1998, 64% more than those at the lowest income level; and
WHEREAS, The City Council Committee on Labor and Civil Service is currently investigating ways to bring high-tech e-commerce firms to Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, To attain high-tech firms, Philadelphia must have a trained and computer savvy workforce; and
WHEREAS, Many jurisdictions such as Maine, Texas, the New York City Board of Education, and the Bloomfield, Connecticut Schools have enacted programs that grant maximum access to computer technology through the availability of laptop computers for students to bridge the digital divide; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Committee on Education hold public hearings on the efforts to bridge the digital divide and take such testimony as is necessary from groups ranging from parents, students, representatives of the Board of Education, the Superintendent, business groups and industry representative.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Committee investigate ways to increase access to computer technology for teachers and students in Philadelphia Public Schools.
End