PNN Online: Education: Schools nationwide "institutionalizing" tech funding through budget items

Dec. 8, 2000

Schools nationwide "institutionalizing" tech funding through budget items

There is growing evidence that school officials around the country are moving away from grants or donations to fund technology purchases for their schools, and are now including new equipment, software and training in their budgets.

This may signal a longer-term solution to the problem of keeping curriculums and teachers on pace with the latest technology, bucking a trend of case-by-case school tech programs that many observers have criticized, the New York Times reports.

A study conducted by Market Data Retrieval, a Connecticut-based educational research company, finds that public schools spent about $121.37 per student –- or a total $5.67 billion –- during the 1999-2000 school year, an increase of 2.5 percent over 1998-1999 levels, the Times reports.

"When it becomes mission-critical, you can't rely on volunteers," said John Vaille, head of the Oregon-based International Society for Technology in Education. "Those technologies have become integral and have become a line-item" in school budgets.

Groups such as the Consortium for School Networking are working with school officials to show them how to budget for the initial technology purchase price, ongoing maintenance and eventual replacement, also known as "total cost of ownership." Although many education administrators are already in the habit of preparing for long-term goals, the cost of maintaining computer networks is too critical for them to rely on grants, donations or volunteer help, the Times reports.

While schools are becoming more self-sustaining, the federal government is still helping with certain tech efforts.

One such program is the "e-rate," overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, which provides districts with funding to offset the costs of connecting schools and libraries to the Internet.