State expands remote classroom effort with more than 70,000 computers

California has secured approximately 70,000 laptops, Chromebooks and tablets to help students learn at home while school campuses remain closed during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom announced this week.

Siebel Newsom worked with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, California State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond and Newsom’s Chief Deputy Cabinet Secretary Ben Chida to lobby companies throughout the state to provide technology to students that will help them participate in online learning and “bridge the digital divide,” she said.