Technology suffers due to lack of funds

A school district is similar to a household when it comes to budgeting. It, too, has bills and must deal with limited resources. For USD 257, the maintenance of its buildings has required a larger and larger portion of its budget, leaving little funds for other departments such as technology.
Most schools in the state are able to purchase and update technology for its buildings through capital outlay — money to be used for physical improvements as well as books and technology.
“Currently our capital outlay budget is being used on roofs and building repairs,” USD 257 technology director Brett Linn said. “This is as much as $400,000 a year. With the technology budget having to come out of general funds, we can’t properly maintain and upgrade technology.”
To help out, parent-teacher organizations and other outside organizations have raised funds to purchase technology for individual buildings.
That’s all well and good, Linn said, except that it creates disparities between schools.
“Due to budget constraints the district has not been able to match the supplementary donations made by PTOs for all other buildings.”
This means students at Jefferson Elementary School, for example, might have more sophisticated electronic devices than McKinley or Lincoln. Linn said the district money is earmarked for projects and rotation of equipment, leaving the district without any flex room to match donations for unbudgeted items.
“The schools do not have equal access to the technology,” Linn said.
Some teachers have better access to technology than others. This makes for inequalities in the classroom for not only a teacher’s lesson plans, but also students’ education.
The lifespan for technology should be only five years but a lot of the technology in the buildings is eight years or older. The district has 1,200 laptops/desktops, 100 Chromebooks and about 200 iPads. Budget constraints make it difficult to update devices when they should be.

ONE elementary school and one high school would be a huge benefit when it comes to technology purchases, Linn said. Today, each building includes servers, firewalls, content filters and routers. If there were one elementary school, for example, this would eliminate the cost and maintenance of multiple devices.
The same goes for software. Software for computers can become pricey and each site has to purchase a separate license. Depending on the type of software, a license can cost anywhere from $350 to $1,500 per school.
“Internet bandwidth can also be saved on,” Linn said. “It’s more affordable to have elevated bandwidth at one location rather than have smaller amounts at three.”
It’s more difficult to have technology work properly in older buildings, Linn said. Depending on which building, and wall thickness, some rooms require two wireless access points.
Could existing walls be expanded with an outer layer to allow for wiring?
Perhaps, but not easily, Linn responded. Crews would still need to drill through a wall to connect the wiring.
“It’s not that drilling through the walls is impossible,” Linn explained. “It’s just very difficult and very costly.”
Another issue is temperature control. The high school newspaper lab overheats, as does the library. Neither was built as computer labs, but both have since been repurposed to keep up with fast-paced technology.
Some of the existing technology would move to the new school building.
“When I’m about to make a purchase for the department I research how long it will last, cost and if it could be moved to the new building,” Linn said.

SECURITY is another concern for Linn and assistant technology director and his father, Sean Linn. The two have worked on purchasing cameras through the Safe and Supportive Schools Grant the high school has had for three years. The elementary schools don’t have the money to update their security.
It is difficult for office personnel to see visitors come in to the building, Linn said. Small intercom systems and odd floor plans make it easier for visitors to bypass the office.
Linn said visitors at the new buildings would have to go into an entry room, sign in, print off a visitor badge, be buzzed in, and be checked out.