* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Holton
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
In Support of State Legislation - House Bill 540 - Education - Laptop Computer Distribution Program
FOR the purpose of expressing support for this legislation that establishes a program in the Department of Education to work with each county to provide laptop computers to every 7th grader enrolled in public school if participation in the program would not be a fiscal hardship to the subdivision; urging the Honorable Chair and Members of the House Ways and Means Committee to give the bill a favorable report; requesting the Honorable Chair and Members of the Baltimore City Senate and House Delegations to the Maryland General Assembly to secure passage of HB 540; and petitioning the Governor to sign the bill into law.
Body
Recitals
In February 2000, the Baltimore City Council adopted C.C. 00-0049 - Baltimore City Digital Divide Summit - for the purpose of convening a summit to determine the extent of the digital divide in the Baltimore City Public Schools and homes, to identify strategies to address the technological disparities, to pinpoint public and private resources available to aid in bridging the gap, and to form partnerships among government agencies, private industry, community groups, churches, and individuals to disseminate economic, educational, and hardware resources to enable all Baltimore City children to attain technological proficiency in the dawn of the 21st century.
The Resolution was proposed to address the disparity, between households and persons who have access to state-of-the-art technology and those who do not, that is causing great concern about a growing "digital divide". Groups that were already connected are now far more connected, while those with lower connectivity rates to modern technology, particularly access to the computer and the Internet, have lagged behind. As a result, the gap between information "haves" and "have nots" is continuing to grow.
At that time a report by the Department of Commerce National Telecommunication and Information Administration cited the following examples that highlighted the breadth of the digital divide:
(1) Those with a college degree are more than 8 times as likely to have a computer at
home and nearly 16 times as likely to have home Internet access, as those with an elementary school education.
(2) A high-income household in an urban area is more than 20 times as likely as a rural,
low-income household to have Internet access.
(3) A child in a low-income White family is 3 times as likely to have Internet access as a
child in a comparable Black family and 4 times as likely to have access as children in a comparable Hispanic household.
(4) A wealthy household of Asian/ Pacific Islander descent is nearly 13 times as likely to
own a computer as a poor Black household and nearly 34 times as likely to have Internet access.
(5) A child in a dual parent White household is nearly twice as likely to have Internet
access as a child in a White single-parent household, while a child in a dual-parent Black family is almost 4 times as likely to have access as a child in a single parent Black household.
These statistics demonstrate the breadth of the digital divide. The children of Baltimore City, who live in an urban environment that reflects many of the demographics used in the comparisons, will fall into the cavern of technological incapability if we do not address these shortcomings now. We must ensure that all Baltimore City children are provided with access to technology, whether in the home, public libraries, schools, churches, or community centers, so that they will be able to stand equal with their peers in this age of electronic communication.
The lack of access to technology among Baltimore's children that led to the introduction of the subject resolution, in 2000, still exists to date. Passage of this legislation would secure for those on the wrong side of the digital divide the tools with which to bridge that gap and to secure for themselves, their families, and their communities a brighter and more productive future.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body supports passage of this legislation that establishes a program in the Department of Education to work with each county to provide laptop computers to every 7th grader enrolled in public school if participation in the program would not be a fiscal hardship to the subdivision; urges the Honorable Chair and Members of the House Ways and Means Committee to give the bill a favorable report; requests the Honorable Chair and Members of the Baltimore City Senate and House Delegations to the Maryland General Assembly to secure passage of HB 540; and petitions the Governor to sign the bill into law.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Governor, the Mayor, the Honorable Chair and Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Honorable Chair and Members of the Baltimore City Senate and House Delegations to the Maryland General Assembly, the Honorable Jeannie Haddaway, the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of State Relations, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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