Smarter Technology for Smarter Budgets

For the first time since 2017, the Governor is not proposing changes to education funding.  For two years he has put forth challenges to the status quo, so this year it will be up to the legislature.  What led him to make these proposals, and why is this issue still important?

Vermont spent almost $1.7 Billion on PK-12 education in 2017.  

Vermont had about 84000 PK-12 students in 2017.

In 2015 the Vermont Legislature commissioned a study by Picus, Odden & Associates, “Using the Evidence-Based Method to Identify Adequate Spending Levels for Vermont Schools”.  The detailed report reviewed suggested that an adequate level of funding was $1.56 billion.  At that time it was almost $164 million less than the 2014-15 expenditure. The study also suggested that there were reasonable explanations for the difference, among them the rural nature of Vermont, small schools, different pupil-teacher ratios, and different supervisory union models.  

Their level of adequate spending overstated the amount needed for technology.  The adequate level of spending used for technology “stuff” for schools (broadband, internal wiring, software, computer devices) was $250 per student per year, or approximately $20.5M overall, for a one-to-three computer/student ratio.  The study suggested that if there was a one-to-one program that the amount should be $571 per student. These values represented 1.3% and 3.0% respectively of their average student cost. During one of the Professional Judgment panels for the report, I proposed that a value closer to $250 was quite adequate for a one-to-one, based on the actual expenditures in Burlington at that time (~$200 per student with one-to-one for 7 of 13 grades).

Some of our cost efficiencies were due to the advent of the chromebook, which by the end of 2017 accounted for over half of the student technology devices across the state.  Other cost efficiencies were due to economies of scale, being one of the largest districts. Other savings were due to taking advantage of the efficiencies offered by high speed broadband service before it was available to most other places in Vermont.  

The most important driver of technology cost reduction in Burlington was that getting resources for students and classrooms was the most important priority of our mission.  That pressure, over a dozen years, led to a continual review of technology operations to look for more efficiencies. The technology “stuff” budget in 2002 was 0.76%, when schools had only a lab and the target was 1 computer per 5 students.  In 2018 it had risen only a fraction, to 0.91%, with ten times the number of devices.

This result clearly shows that planning, systematic review, and taking advantage of opportunities for technology efficiencies can have a big impact, allowing both financial savings and more funding for other key student needs.  See other posts for more concrete ideas.