Why Schools Must Re-prioritize K-12 Education Technology Spending
February 26, 2018
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In the past five years, K-12 education technology spending in the US has steadily increased. Even while overall school district budgets consistently seem to take a hit, including proposed funding cuts at the federal level for 2018-2019, there has been a commitment to putting more technology in the classrooms. Along with bigger investments for hardware and software, there has also come a necessary uptick in funds for teacher training and tech support for the classroom. Generally speaking, it’s always encouraging to see more money funneled toward any type of student spending, especially ed tech. But does this come at a cost to other critical areas of technology spending?
Perhaps the only downside of today’s budgeting priorities is that less money is going toward general information technology needs. When evaluating a school district’s technology needs (particularly as part of capital investments), it’s also important to shift enough dollars to cover those solutions that can have a significant impact on overall safety, efficiency, and communication.
That’s easier said than done, particularly when administrators and IT leaders are facing increased public scrutiny over spending decisions.
Among the long list of issues that arise (and are often heatedly debated) when evaluating tech budgets are:
- Where are dollars spent, i.e., what portion directly benefits classrooms (students/teachers)
- How do you split operational IT spending with classroom ed tech spending (tablets, laptops, learning-based software, etc)
- Impact of pressure from public audits uncovering abuse or mismanagement of funds/expenditures
- Wasted funds on high maintenance costs of legacy technology and expensive licenses for tech
- Backlash from prior investments (purchasing the “wrong” systems that don’t perform as they should have, cost more to deploy than expected, or wasted time and resources due to slow adoption of tool by users because they were complicated to learn, training was lacking or were just too cumbersome)
- Wasted indirect costs due to lack of IT policy and enforcement (i.e, mobile devices)
- Spending on projects that don’t address school safety, student privacy, etc
Communication is at the heart of a school – and given the critical need for an increased focus on school safety and on mobility, any school or district operating with a legacy phone system must put dollars toward an upgrade at the top of its IT budget.Some of the challenges school systems face today (that are further hindrances when using a legacy phone system and are areas that must be addressed when selecting a replacement solution) include:
- Safety – Integration with emergency notification systems, paging/intercom capabilities, ability to make mass phone calls, and the need for mobility integrated in order to enable flexible and fast responding task forces across the campus
- Overwhelming call volume – The need for easy, automated ways to route calls without being overly dependent upon already limited IT staff/resources
- Antiquated communication options – Tied to a desk instead of having access to mobility functionality in communications/softphones; need for more functionality options, such as Voicemail-to-email and click-to-dial capabilities
- Options for communication with parents is limited – Need better way for administrators/teachers to return parents calls, especially outside of the classroom; need to integrate mobility and BYOD but must be able to display the school’s DID instead of the teacher’s personal information, etc
- Current system is too complex – Understanding legacy systems is often dependant upon having knowledge of outdated telecom jargon; supporting and maintaining aging system is also not simple (or cheap); and there needs to be simplified ease-of-use for staff, teachers and parent volunteers, including being easy to train and learn the system and in a short amount of time.
- Integration with in-school systems – Updated technology needs to work with and alongside everyday facility requirement such as bells, intercoms, student databases, etc.