Lake County school districts receive federal digital learning funds

A pair of Lake County school districts are among 11 in Montana and hundreds across the nation to receive funding through the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, as promised by Congressional action through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Valley View School District in Polson will receive $5,598.60, and the Upper West Shore School District in Dayton will receive $16,700 to help provide students with devices and broadband access to connect with online resources due to COVID-19.

Altogether, Montana schools have received a total of $853,554.16 through the program. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Monday that a total of 3,678 applicants nationwide received $1.2 billion, including the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico.

This week’s distribution is the first of two rounds of funding from the FCC. The second round of applications will run Sept. 28 to Oct. 13. Application resources can be found at www.emergencyconnectivityfund.org.