Technology Services

Home Internet Services

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provides eligible households a discount of up to $30 per month off their internet bills (or up to $75 per month for households living on Tribal lands), as well as a one-time discount of up to $100 off an eligible connected device like a laptop, desktop computer or tablet. In many cases, households can get high-speed internet without paying a dime by choosing a fully covered internet plan. 

This announcement serves as a reminder that a household is eligible to participate in the ACP if a child in the household receives free or reduced-price school meals. Therefore, under the ACP rules, every household with a child attending a school participating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program is eligible for ACP benefits.

Households can learn more and apply for the ACP at GetInternet.gov​. 

While this reminder is specific to schools that are participating in CEP, additional information about eligibility for CEP discount benefits can be found in the School Outreach Toolkit PDF (English) and School Outreach Toolkit PDF (Spanish). The toolkit provides information about ways households can qualify for the ACP, including through an individual student’s participation in the National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program providing free or reduced-price meals; through a household member’s participation in a wide range of other federal assistance programs like Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and many others; or based on the household’s income (up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level).

TECHNOLOGY - Data Governance

Over the past few years a greater emphasis has been placed on improving security controls to better safeguard our privacy, assets, and data. 

Some of these additional actions being taken include: 
 - implementing multi-factor authentication on user accounts;
- revised and tested incident response plans;
- scanning our network ports and closing open ports that are un-necessary;
- air gapped and encrypted backups of necessary data;
- the inventory and removal of outdated programs and software;
- improving our endpoint detection and response systems;
- improving our ability to log and track actions;
-increasing awareness training to our staff and students;
- improving our ability to manage updates and patches;
- improving our user management controls including access and passwords.

The Technology Services department has been following up on these actions by undergoing outside audits of our programs and systems and joining other agencies in training and implementing improved protocols to better serve or community.