Malvern, Pa. and Bloomington, Minn. (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Frontline Education, a leading provider of administration software purpose-built for educators in K-12, and Vanco, a leading solution for event planning, ticketing, fundraising and patron engagement, today announced an exclusive partnership that provides K-12 school districts with a seamless and secure way to sell tickets and manage registrations for school events, at no cost to the school districts.  

Vanco is a trusted provider of payment solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of K-12 schools and districts. With a focus on secure, efficient payment processing, Vanco enables educational organizations to streamline financial operations and improve the overall experience for families. Adding Vanco’s secure payment processing platform to Frontline’s comprehensive suite of solutions provides K-12 districts nationwide a powerful set of financial and business management capabilities.

“Our Vanco partnership brings K-12 school districts a secure payments solution for effortlessly administering events and transactions,” said Mark Friedman, Chief Marketing Officer at Frontline Education. “It’s exciting to empower schools to create memorable experiences for the communities they serve.”

Key benefits of the partnership include:

• Efficient Payment Processing: The solution streamlines payment processing, enabling districts to securely manage event transactions, including fees, donations, and registrations, in an intuitive and user-friendly interface.
• Real-time Financial Insights: Districts will have access to advanced reporting and analytics, providing administrators with valuable insights to make informed financial decisions.
• Enhanced Security and Compliance: Vanco’s offering ensures that all financial transactions are conducted in a secure and compliant manner, providing peace of mind to districts and families alike.
• Seamless User Experience: The solution provides a seamless experience for end-users, eliminating the need for duplicate data entry and reducing administrative overhead.

“Our collaboration with Frontline Education will bring our innovative, state-of-the-art event management platform to a broader audience, creating a synergy that will benefit both organizations and, more importantly, our customers – schools, parents and students,” said Faton Gjuka, Chief Revenue Officer at Vanco. 

For more information on the Frontline and Vanco partnership, or to start benefiting from the offering, please visit  here.

About Frontline

Frontline Education is a leading provider of school administration software, connecting solutions for student and special programs, business operations and human capital management with powerful analytics to empower educators. Frontline partners with school systems to deliver tools, data and insights that support greater efficiency and productivity, enabling school leaders to spend more time and resources executing strategies that drive educator effectiveness, student success and district excellence.

Frontline’s broad portfolio includes solutions for proactive recruiting and hiring, absence and time management, professional growth, student information systems, special education, special programs, Medicaid reimbursement, school health management, inventory control and asset management, payroll, benefits and financial management, and analytics solutions that help district leaders tap into their data to make more informed decisions for the benefit of their students and communities. Over 10,000 clients representing millions of educators, administrators and support personnel have partnered with Frontline Education in their efforts to develop the next generation of learners.

About Vanco 

Based in Bloomington, MN and Atlanta, GA, Vanco is the approachable, community-focused financial technology leader. Over 45,000 churches, schools, and community organizations trust Vanco to transform their giving, payment, and financial management experience so they can serve and inspire their communities to build a better tomorrow. Visit vancopayments.com to learn more.  

Key points:

• Educators acknowledge that digital equity is of critical importance today
• What’s more, home internet is essential to helping students achieve learning outcomes
• See related article: Five action steps to shrink the digital divide
• For more news on equity and the digital divide, visit eSN’s Educational Leadership page

When it comes to digital equity, U.S. schools are well-positioned to help families get online with low-cost, high-speed internet options through the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), according to a new study from Discovery Education and Comcast.

However, the study also found that educators lack centralized resources and direct support necessary to successfully overcome barriers to the digital divide. Released to help support this year’s Digital Inclusion Week theme of “Building Connected Communities,” key findings include: 

• Nearly all educators surveyed feel strongly that digital equity is more important today than ever before. 
• 82 percent of families and 80 percent of educators surveyed feel strongly that high-speed Internet at home is extremely important to fulfilling learning outcomes. 
• While two-thirds of families and educators acknowledge their school’s interest in closing the digital divide, only one-third are aware of actionable measures being taken by the school district.  
• Only 39 percent of parents were aware of the ACP, and of those that were aware, just 13 percent of parents have signed up. What’s more, only 22 percent of educators surveyed strongly agree that administrators in their school districts are equipped with the necessary information to communicate options for high-speed internet access at home. 
• Data shows multiple disconnects between what parents pointed to as actual barriers to broadband adoption versus what teachers perceived as parents’ barriers to adoption. Addressing these will be critical to ensuring that school districts and digital navigator programs are effective in closing the digital divide for students. 
• There was a 52-percentage-point difference between the share of teachers who thought that cost of service was the primary barrier to adoption for families versus the actual share of parents who pointed to cost as a barrier. 
• Significantly larger shares of teachers thought that families did not live in buildings that were wired for broadband, did not know how to set up the Internet, and did not have devices than the share of parents who raised these barriers. 
• Findings from the study also support a recommendation for school systems to partner with proven and trusted programs such as those that include support from Digital Navigators — to help streamline communication, advocacy, and adoption strategies that lead to equitable opportunities for all students. Ensuring all ACP-eligible families are signed up is equally important in supporting district connectivity goals. 

To help further address these issues, Comcast is helping school administrators more quickly and easily access additional resources to get more households enrolled in the ACP during the back-to-school season through the Online For All Back to School Challenge, led by the U.S. Department of Education and Civic Nation. 

A new online tool from Comcast is designed to help administrators quickly and easily assess ACP eligibility in their school districts. They can also learn about which schools have the lowest broadband adoption rates in their area. This valuable data will enable school leaders to better tailor communications around the ACP and direct families to resources that can assist in supporting Internet adoption. 

“Ensuring every student in America has access to reliable, high-speed Internet in the classroom and at home is a top priority for Comcast’s Project UP. The combination of historic investments in universal broadband, public-private collaboration, and private industry support will together ensure that neither availability nor affordability stand in the way of achieving connectivity for everyone,” said Broderick Johnson, EVP of Public Policy and EVP of Digital Equity, Comcast Corporation. 

“At Discovery Education, we are on a mission to prepare learners for tomorrow by creating innovative classrooms connected to today’s world. Today, no matter where learning takes place, access to and adoption of high-speed Internet is an essential ingredient for student success. As Comcast’s education partner in this work, we’re proud to support efforts to ensure students and families have the tools necessary to meet the demands of the modern learning environment,” said Amy Nakamoto, EVP of Social Impact, Discovery Education. 

“Today, 17 million unconnected households are eligible for low-cost, high-speed Internet under the Affordable Connectivity Program. Civic Nation is partnering with the U.S. Department of Education, school districts, and organizations across the country through Online For All to close this gap and ensure every student and family has equitable access to learning, both at home and in the classroom,” said Kyle Lierman, CEO of Civic Nation. 

Additional key findings from the study include: 

• While educators believe their school district leaders are aware of the negative impacts the digital divide has on learning outcomes, there are numerous other factors being prioritized over home Internet adoption. 
• 86 percent of educators surveyed elevated student well-being as the most important issue for schools to address, followed by school safety, and equity and inclusion more broadly. This places more emphasis on policymakers, school officials, institutions, and the private sector to show how digital equity and home broadband adoption facilitate broader equity issues and level the playing field for families seeking opportunities for their children. 
• Further, coupling Internet access and adoption with an ability to address other school concerns, such as providing supports for student well-being and growth, has the ability to keep digital equity as a top priority for school leaders and help them serve broader needs for their students. 

There is widespread agreement that the pandemic forcefully evolved and rapidly closed gaps in the digital divide as schools moved swiftly to remote learning. This cultural shift was met with success stories of connectivity and technological advancements, but also shined a light on students and families who did not experience equitable access to learning because of lack of connectivity or devices, or other barriers that made remote learning cumbersome. 

This study and partnerships were made possible by Project UP, Comcast’s comprehensive initiative to advance digital equity and help build a future of unlimited possibilities. Part of Comcast’s $1 billion commitment is prioritizing Internet connectivity and its impact on education. In addition, through providing low-cost broadband through Internet Essentials to families and the Internet Essentials Partner Program (IEPP) for schools, Comcast continues to ensure there are no barriers to home connectivity that could impede learning. 

This press release originally appeared online.