Laptop initiative in Stillwater protected for another year

An update to the story I posted on yesterday, Stillwater has found a way to protect its laptop initiative for the next year:

Addressing a roomful of ardent technology supporters and critical school board members, District 834 Superintendent Keith Ryskoski said laptop computing initiatives at the school system's two junior highs will continue in their present form next year.

That is great news for students. But the question still remains how districts will consistently provide technology to all students in the future. If it is left to local levies to fund, there will be further inequities in education state-wide, based not on need or the advantages of having technology but subject to the whim of existing tax burdens.

So, for instance, district residents' decision whether to fund a technology initiative could be based more on a reaction to an existing tax burden outside the district's control - like a county or city tax increase - rather than a desire to support technology.

There is coming a time when student access to technology will be as necessary as their access to pencils and notebooks. Under the current system with all its inequities, students attending school in areas with a high tax burden will have less opportunity, and therefore will be less prepared, compared to students attending school in areas capable of affording technology.

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