Mesa school board approves submitting grant to FCC for cybersecurity program

The Mesa Public Schools Governing Board voted unanimously at their Oct. 29 meeting to approve a grant submission to the Federal Communications Commission for a school cybersecurity program.

According to board documents, the grant is worth up to $4.5 million and will allow the district to purchase systems and infrastructure for cybersecurity from the FCC’s Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program for three years.

According to the FCC’s website, the pilot program will evaluate the effectiveness of using the FCC’s Universal Service Fund to support cybersecurity services and equipment for protecting library and school broadband networks and data in order to determine funding on a permanent basis.

MUSD — also known as Mesa Public Schools — is the largest public school district in Arizona and has six high schools, nine junior high schools, 55 elementary schools and 18 choice and success schools.

For more information on the FCC’s pilot program, visit https://www.fcc.gov/cybersecurity-pilot-program.