Strategic Planning

During our group discussion regarding chapters 12 and 13 in the textbook: Educational Leadership and Planning for Technology, one of my questions to those who are apart of my group was how did school districts determine their budgets for technology, and if anyone knew exactly how much does a school district spend. I wanted to find out so that I could have a clear picture in my mind about the true costs and how some districts may go about funding their technology initiatives on a yearly basis.

The textbook tells us that as school districts begin to develop and plan their proposals for technology they should use a variety of sources. Picciano tells us "there are four major funding sources: school district budget, bond issues, governmental entities, and gifts and grants" (p. 260). In reading the text, I thought about how often I hear how the state of Alabama education lacks funding or there will be a budget shortfall etc., and/ or how school districts are not getting the same amount of funds from previous years. The question still remains on how does a school, district, board, or state fund any of its technology programs?

 I learned during our group discussion that the monies could reach into the millions, especially if  a district needs upgrades or replacements, purchase supplies, ongoing maintenance or just placing laptops or Chromebooks within each schools classrooms. Also, I learned that districts break down their costs from a per student basis. (see caption that shows total revenue per student in Jefferson County, Alabama for fiscal year 2012-2013, (Technology In Schools, 2002)). That's a lot of money to consider when creating your budgets, but I'm curious as to why some school districts seem to fall short or not have enough or at all to implement, develop and run full updated and maintain technology programs.


Planning. Strategic Planning. Throughout the text we've read how to plan for technology within school districts and how to evaluate your hardware, software, creating budgets, and sources of funding. "One of the major issues impeding the establishment of successful technology programs is the schools lack of careful and effective planning" (Picciano, 2011, p. 10). The video below gives administrators a look into 5 tips to create a strategic plan for your school district:

"In the planning process, budgets can inform the allocation of resources. Knowing what has been expended supports future planning by comparing prior inputs to expenditures and allows decisions to be made about relative priorities" (Technology In Schools, 2002). To begin this process school districts can use the tips as a baseline idea of what and how to get started with planning their budgets and seeking sources for funding. Picciano states that"The school district budget, generally, is the primary source of funds for implementing technology applications" (Picciano, 2011, p. 260).

 Through additional research I found a school district technology template that could be used to start the planning and begin to establish a budget to fund district computer technologies. Districts can then focus on getting support from their boards of education and seek out additional funding sources.

http://www.scilearn.com/sites/default/files/imported/alldocs/cp/school-district-technology-plan.pdf

Sources:

NJASA (2012, November 8). Five Tips to Create A Strategic Plan For Your School District. Retrieved April 27, 2016, from Youtube website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7YW6DWn8v4

Picciano, A.G. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology (5th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Technology In Schools. (2002, November). National Center for Edcuational Statistics. Retrieved April 28, 2016, from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/tech_schools/index.asp