Photo by Mary Woodard
Is it legal to buy personal computers for students using school construction bonds? And if it’s legal, is it wise to pay interest long-term on devices with a short shelf life?
Last month, the Bond Oversight Committee for Los Angeles Unified balked at endorsing Superintendent John Deasy’s plan to buy tablet computers with bonds intended primarily for building and renovating schools. In doing so, the Committee raised questions that other school districts also should be asking.
There’s no unqualified answer to the questions that the Bond Oversight Committee asked, and school districts like San Diego Unified and Riverside Unified have come to opposite conclusions. What all agree on, however, is that the state needs to provide legal clarity and, most importantly, dollars.
Most districts don’t need convincing that technology is key to a 21st century classroom, but, with budgets remaining tight after years of cutbacks, they’re scratching their heads over ways to pay for it. And they’re questioning how the state can commit to computer-based standardized tests in two years, based on the new Common Core standards, without helping equip schools to administer the
