Cash n carry

Cash 'n carry for computers

Computers are fast becoming major line items in the budgets of American schools. Gone are the days when schools relied on donations of corporate castoffs or the proceeds of 8th-grade bake sales to wire their classrooms.

According to research firm Market Data Retrieval, public schools spent nearly $6 billion-around $121 per student-on technology in 19992000, a 2.5 percent increase over the previous year. And the spending could become more intense. A bipartisan congressional body, the Education Commission, recently reported that wiring schools to the Internet has "transform[ed] learning in new and powerful ways" and that more time, energy, and money should be invested in boosting this "new learning opportunity." The commission strongly urges more federal and state funding for educational technology.

Keith Kruger, executive director of the Consortium for School Networking, hails the commission's report, saying it "puts forth a very visionary view." But that said, Kruger warns that schools need to do a better job of budgeting for IT.

Market Data Retrieval also notes that 60 percent of school funds are spent on hardware and 20 percent on software. That leaves precious little money for training and technical support, and is the opposite of how businesses spend on information technology.

Businesses know, Kruger explains, "that the real cost isn't hardware and software, it's training people and technical support. What's the use of having a state-of-the-art system if it takes weeks to fix it when it crashes?" he asks. His group promotes within schools a business concept called total cost of ownership (TCO), which takes into account maintenance and replacement costs as well as the purchase price.

When it comes to tech support, Kruger admits that schools face handicaps. They can't pay competitive salaries to hire full-time support teams. But, he insists, there are options, including training students to do some of the work, and using contract technicians.

The more reliant schools become on high technology, the more serious they must be about funding their IT programs and budgeting for the future. Indeed, one federal initiative-the e-rate program, which helps schools pay for Internet connections-requires schools to maintain an up-to-date technology plan. School chiefs are swiftly learning that education technology has many payoffs, but it doesn't come cheap.