1. A Costly Conversation About Computers Investigating The Total Package Presenter: Dani Davis Flint Community Schools December 5 th, 2004

2. What is Total Cost of Ownership? “TCO adds up all the costs related to technology through its useful life. These costs include the purchase prices of hardware and software, networking costs, Internet access costs, system operating costs and maintenance costs. They also include direct labor — the wages, salaries and benefits of those assigned to manage technology networks.” Definition taken from: http://www.peterli.com/archive/spm/669.shtmhttp://www.peterli.com/archive/spm/669.shtm

3. An Example of Total Cost of Ownership

4. Flint Community Schools - Proposed Technology Budget The following slide contains the proposed technology budget for 2003-2006. The budget is subject to change, based on the availability of funds. Budget taken from: http://www.flintschools.org/http://www.flintschools.org/

6. What is Your District’s TCO? http://classroomtco.cosn.org/tco_chart.html Click Above to read the TCO chart and find out where your school falls in the continuum.

7. Total Cost of Ownership Statistics Some ballpark figures “The TCO for schools has generally been calculated to be much lower than the TCO in the corporate world. In 1997, International Data Corp. surveyed 400 school officials and calculated that the TCO for a school with 75 computers was $2,251 per year per computer when a school computer crashes or the network goes down, students simply double up around the remaining machines or teachers go back to teaching "the old fashioned way." As school networks grow, age, and evolve, school leaders undoubtedly will gain more experience with budgeting to support technology adequately. The main lesson for now is that after networks are installed, technology costs continue, and much of those costs shift to line items that cannot be supported by bonds or the capital budget, such as staff development and personnel.“

8. Total Cost of Ownership Statistics More ballpark figures  “The Denver Public Schools, in late 1997, developed a TCO projection as part of a five-year tech plan and a comparison of the costs of leasing computers versus purchasing them. District officials calculated that over five years, the support and staff development costs for a $2,000 PC totaled $1,943.73 a year, including $500 in parts and upgrades.  a consultant reviewing the computer support needs of the Fairfax County (Va.) Public Schools calculated that the district, which has 225 schools, was actually spending the equivalent of 330 full-time equivalent teaching positions, or $16.5 million a year, in the amount of teacher time devoted to computer support.”  All figures taken from: http://www.electronic-school.com/199909/0999sbot.htmlhttp://www.electronic-school.com/199909/0999sbot.html

9. TCO: A Closer Look Budgeting for the Total Cost of Ownership of School Networks (Revised June 2003) Budgeting for the Total Cost of Ownership of School Networks (Revised June 2003) A downloadable PowerPoint presentation designed to help you explain the concept of Total Cost of Ownership to school administrators, school board members and other decision-makers.

10. Hardware Cost There are many hidden hardware costs when a school district is initially purchasing hardware for the Classroom. Also, there are costs associated with the upkeep and upgrading of the current hardware being used in your district.

11. Hardware Cost Links http://www.electronic-school.com/199909/0999sbot.html This is the site for the technology magazine, “Electronic School.” Information is provided on the hardware cost associated with bring technology into the school environment. There is also a list of software reviews and upcoming technology meetings. http://www.electronic-school.com/199909/0999sbot.html http://www.peterli.com/archive/spm/669.shtm This article not only discusses the cost of hardware, but also total cost of ownership as a whole, from networking to support wages and salaries.

12. Software Costs The cost of software is greatly reduced for school districts when the districts purchase site licenses. These licenses allow school’s to purchase one copy of a software program and install it on any computer at that location.

13. Software Costs Links  http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~french/hwk/bill-french-is290-17.html http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~french/hwk/bill-french-is290-17.html This is a frank discuss on the rise of overall technology related costs within the schools, as well as how the “budget crisis” effects the school’s ability to purchase educational software. Also, this Article investigates the steep fines which are assessed to districts that attempt to use software throughout buildings, without first purchasing a site license. http://www.electronic-school.com/reviews.html This site supplies a comprehensive list of software used in classrooms today. Once one has chosen software that addresses their school’s benchmark’s and Standards, you may click the link to view pricing information and purchase the software. http://www.electronic-school.com/reviews.html http://www.kidsclick.com/schools.htm This website is a link to education software programs. All school with a site license receives a 10% discount or free delivery on purchases over $100.00.

14. Networking in Schools The school community (commonly referred to as K-12 in the U.S., meaning kindergarten through 12th grade) is starting to focus its attention on the Internet. Most school networking activity has occurred in the U.S. The Internet is being used for all aspects of education, including administrative, educational, professional development, and community building. A recent informal census conducted via voluntary reportings over the Internet estimates the number of teachers and students (individual and classroom accounts) in the U.S. using the Internet, either directly or indirectly, at almost 250,000. The number of educational resources, databases, mailing lists, and archives is also growing rapidly -- so much so that one educator recently lamented on an education mailing list there was too much available, that the sheer number of distributed services was large enough to overwhelm the novice teacher embarking for the first time on a digital professional development trip. (This problem is being addressed with the appearance of user friendly search and retrieval tools that present a simple, organized face of the Internet, such as Gopher and the WorldWideWeb.) Statistics taken from: http://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/tracy-article.htmlhttp://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/tracy-article.html

15. Funding Networking “The National Science Foundation has an Internet Connections Program to which schools and organizations can apply for grants. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently announced a grant program to fund planning and demonstration projects that (among other things) promote the goals of development and widespread availability of advanced telecommunications technologies and support the advancement of an advanced nationwide telecommunications and information infrastructure. Both the NSF and NTIA programs benefit other organizations, as well as universities and schools.” Taken from: http://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/tracy-article.htmlhttp://www.ibiblio.org/cisco/tracy-article.html

16. Internet Access For Everyone??? “Every school in the country wants access to the Internet, but not every school can afford the costs of wiring, networking and buying software and additional computers.” Taken From: http://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1996/july/cvr1july/cvr1july.phphttp://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1996/july/cvr1july/cvr1july.php

17. Internet Networking Costs In February (1996), “President Clinton announced a five-year, $2 billion program to link all American classrooms to the Internet.” “In the meantime, a task force commissioned by President Clinton in 1996, concluded that the nation needs to spend $150 billion over the next decade to provide adequate information technology for its public schools.” In March of 1996, “Tennessee's Commissioner of Education, Jane Walters, announced that by September every public school in the state will be online with the Internet. The state set aside $4 million for the project, but is relying on contributions from private businesses to reach its objective” Taken From: http://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1996/july/cvr1july/cvr1july.phphttp://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1996/july/cvr1july/cvr1july.php

18. Internet Wiring and Computer Cost Lee County Technology advisor, Wilson wisely stated, "There's no purpose in buying a bunch of computers when there's no funds to network them," In Lexington, Mass., the school superintendent asked the town to appropriate $1.2 million for networking and wiring even if not one more computer is added to the school system” Taken From: http://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1996/july/cvr1july/cvr1july.phphttp://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1996/july/cvr1july/cvr1july.php

19. School Wiring and Electrical Power for Internet “For those schools wise enough to pursue networking before spending money on computers and Internet access, there's another costly problem. Many schools lack the wiring and electrical power to run dozens of computers and printers.” “Each school district has to spend its own money on upgrading any wiring to handle the increased electrical load from computers.” “The old school buildings lack the electrical power to handle the hardware. "The electrical power wiring issue is quite expensive," said Wilson. "All we can do is pursue the wiring and networking as aggressively as funding will permit.“ Taken From: http://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1996/july/cvr1july/cvr1july.phphttp://www.govtech.net/magazine/gt/1996/july/cvr1july/cvr1july.php

20. Costly Myth “The myth that buying computers is more like buying a new gymnasium (which will require minimal maintenance and need replacement only in the dim future) than buying a new school bus (which is known to require regular maintenance and will wear out at a reasonably predictable point in the near future requiring immediate replacement).” Taken From: http://prometheus.ed.csuohio.edu/Simulation/simulation.htmlhttp://prometheus.ed.csuohio.edu/Simulation/simulation.html

21. Maintenance and Repair In Schools “When a classroom computer breaks down, a teacher is either expected to go back to teaching "the old fashioned way" until it is fixed, or students are expected to "double up" on the computers that are still working.” Taken from: http://classroomtco.cosn.org/checklist/support.htmlhttp://classroomtco.cosn.org/checklist/support.html

22. Maintenance and Repair Defined Maintenance and repair may be defined as any upkeep performed on equipment or facilities. A comprehensive maintenance budget is a necessary component of a technology plan. This comprehensive budget will ensure: longevity of the equipment; adequate staff instruction; and that are cost effective problem solving.

23. Maintenance and Repair Costs “Trevor P. Shaw, director of technology at St. Benedict's Prep School in Newark, NJ, says when his school accepted used computers, it would accept only 486/66 PCs and then take steps to make them compatible with the rest of the school's computers. That would mean spending $50 to $100 to upgrade the RAM to 16 megabytes, $100 for a 500 megabyte hard drive and another $50 to $65 to license an operating system and a suite of basic software applications. That, he said, added up to approximately $250 to $300 per machine, or $12,500 for just 50 computers.” "You also need to consider what these machines have been through before you got them. Are components on the verge of failing? Are connectors or ports damaged or loose? When these components are on the motherboard, the machine really is no longer worth fixing."

24. Maintenance and Repair Costs “In a small survey of 124 school districts done by the council and the National School Boards Association last fall, 94 percent of schools reported that they rely on teachers, librarians and other non-technology staff to help provide technical support, and 57 percent said they relied on students to help provide support.” “There are hidden costs associated with using teachers to fix classroom computer problems. In Fairfax County, Va., the 155,000-student school district estimated that if each teacher spent one hour a week trying to fix a problem, the time spent would equal 307 full-time employees, at a cost of $15.3 million a year. The cost increased when the district considered that 5 percent of its most tech-savvy teachers might spend an additional hour and a half each week helping their colleagues, for a total cost of $16.5 million a year.” Taken From: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/education/26education.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/education/26education.html

25. Wages and Salaries of Support Staff related Jobs  In order for the district to keep technology in operation, there must be a support staff who is responsible for troubleshooting problems.  A breakdown of these jobs is shown on the next slide.  The projected annual salaries and wages budget for 2004-2005 in the Flint Community schools is $1,863,417.81.  The typical annual wages and salaries budget is between $1,600,000.00 and $2,100,000.00.

26. Technology Related Jobs in Schools Graphic taken from: http://www.flintschools.org/http://www.flintschools.org/

27. Support Staff Links These four sites provide more support information: Consortium for School Networking National School Boards Association Michigan Technology Staffing Guidelines Plano Independent School District  http://techguide.merit.edu/worksheet.htm http://techguide.merit.edu/worksheet.htm Calculate the cost of your districts support staff using this worksheet.

28. Methods for Reducing Total Cost of Ownership  Schools should purchase less-expensive PCs in large quantities in order to receive larger discounts.  Search for the deals- Educational software packages are often priced lower than standard software.  Schools can typically use their computers for at least five years. even though technology is continually evolving retaining current technology is a wise practice, in order to reduce the cost of purchasing replacement technology

29. Reducing Total Cost of Ownership http://www.intel.com/business/bss/products/notebook/centrino/tco/ This Intel website lists Intel products designed to reduce cost of ownership for all users. The site gives detailed information about how each piece of Intel technology reduces cost of ownership. http://www.intel.com/business/bss/products/notebook/centrino/tco/ http://www.vci.com/products/network_centric/pdf/WoodlandHills_Case Study_Feb2004.pdf http://www.vci.com/products/network_centric/pdf/WoodlandHills_Case Study_Feb2004.pdf This Article gives a detailed Account of how Woodland Hills reduced their school district’s cost of ownership.

30. Additional Technology Resources http://www.micromationinc.com/_documents/TCO_User_Survey_Fact_ Sheet.PDF http://www.micromationinc.com/_documents/TCO_User_Survey_Fact_ Sheet.PDF Click the above link to get information on obtaining a TCO Survey kit for your school district.  http://classroomtco.cosn.org/survey_tech_press.html http://classroomtco.cosn.org/survey_tech_press.html Use the TCO tool, read the TCO chart, and read the TCO survey results.  http://www.nctp.com/downloads/guidebook.pdfhttp://www.nctp.com/downloads/guidebook.pdf This Document is a useful tool when designing a technology plan for your school district.