Plano ISD 2013 ? 2016 Technology Plan - Amazon Web Services

Budget Strategies to Acquire and Maintain Components of
the Technology Plan
Plano ISD and its community commit a significant portion of budget dollars to support
and improve the use of technology in the district. In 1996 and 1999, the community
approved $43 and $21 million, respectively, bond packages that provided the needed
funding to enable a large portion of the plan to be put into place. A combination of
operating funds and 5-year equipment bonds will be needed to insure the remainder of
the plan can be implemented and maintained in an appropriate fashion. Due to the
legislative mandates that have equalized available funding for school districts, the
district must strive to fund replacement costs in future bond packages. The operating
budget should fund ongoing support of technology. A determination was made in the
spring of 1999 by district administration and the Board of Trustees that a replacement
fund for technology must become part of an ongoing bond program. In September
2000, the community approved a bond package that included $39 million for technology
and instructional initiatives. In addition, that bond provided for the funding of the
three-year technology replacement program as detailed in the previous technology
plan. The Board of Trustees approved a small bond election for August 2003 that
provided $2,500,000 for our web-based information systems development along with
$1,500,000 to begin the next phase of our technology replacement program. In August
2003, the community approved a bond package that provided $51.8 million for
technology initiatives. In May 2008, the most current package was approved providing
$66.1 million for curriculum and technology initiatives. $33.8 million of that funding is
earmarked for the replacement program over 4 years. This also included a variety of
new curriculum with embedded technology initiatives as detailed in pages 16-24 of this
document.
Due to a variety of factors, the 2008 bond funding program had to be extended from the
expected four year cycle to currently supporting its sixth year of expenditures. As in the
past, and to prepare for a future bond, the Technology Steering Committee has
reviewed current technology use throughout the district and has recommended the
replacement schedule for 2013-2016 as noted on page 40.
The curriculum and technology planning teams have begun to review and evaluate
current programs for improvements and will be ready with suggestions when planning
begins for a future funding source.
As our reliance on technology resources for teaching, learning and support services
continues to grow, our need to provide for the total cost of ownership of those resources
also expands. The board has taken an active stance on the use of outsourcing for those
areas of technology support that can best be handled with outside expertise.
Maintenance of our private fiber optic wide area network, network WAN electronics,
phone voice lines and computer repair are handled through outsource agreements.
Learning in the Digital Age - Plano Independent School District Technology Plan 2013-2016
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