Jordan School District will receive $1.5 million from the State Office of Education for improving technology instruction in its 70 schools during the 1990-91 school year.
The money will help promote technology partnerships between public education and private enterprise, as well as improve students' performance in math, reading and other areas.Utah's technology initiative - approved by the 1990 Legislature - appropriated $13.5 million for public education as a first infusion of technology support. Such funds for public education statewide could increase to $200 million in the next four years when combined with vendor discounts and contributions from the districts, the state and business.
"If the ETI (Education Technology Initiative) were to continue at the same level over the additional three years that it's planned for, we could be talking about an infusion of over $8 million for instructional related technology," said C. Devon Sanderson, assistant Jordan School superintendent. "With this money we could finally begin to do something."
Jordan School District must provide matching funds of $1 of every $3 of state money. Plans to invest the money are being made by a steering committee made up of more than 20 educational leaders, including Superintendent Raymond W. Whittenburg, assistant superintendents and elementary and high school principals.
Jordan will receive $1,545,897 in state funds, but the Jordan Board of Education will have to match the grant with $515,299 to qualify, which will give the district a total funding for technology instruction improvements of $2,061,196, Sanderson said.
Last year, the district spent $1.8 million on Apple computers and software for several schools. Technology must emphasize instruction and provide sound in-service for teachers, and vendors must provide 40 percent discounts on installation and maintenance of technological equipment for five years, Sanderson said.
The district's committee has created a master plan that will include initial costs of purchases, installation and maintenance, replacement costs, details of how the new technology will be integrated with existing technology, methods of evaluating the program and a component for reporting to the Legislature in December.
"This educational technology initiative can be a catalyst for change and restructure . . . We're going to have to look at things a little bit differently than we have in the past," Sanderson said. "Simply coming in with a per-capita allocation will not meet the intent or the operational guidelines of the initiative."
Cindy Nagasawa-Cruz, Jordan's director of data processing, said the committee is considering using the money to purchase technological equipment that will help students increase their test scores in math, participation in the Jordan Technical Center, restructure overcrowded classrooms and target possible dropouts and high-risk students.
Board Member Maurine Jensen said, "I think restructuring technology in the classroom could use the most creative skills of our teachers if they had enough autonomy to be innovative."
Whittenburg said there will be heavy teacher involvement during the planning and adoption of a master plan. "We do not see the district steering committee developing the nuts and bolts of each of these plans, but instead we would present a concept and allow teachers and administration at the local schools to participate."
Board President Don A. Carpenter said, "The future is now in the Jordan District and we want to be on the cutting edge of technology. Technology cannot be a panacea. It has to have teacher involvement."
The district's plan, along with those of 39 other districts, won't be approved until September by the Technology Initiative Steering Committee. The statewide committee has already received more than a dozen master plans from several districts.
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Technology initiative facts:
- Jordan School District's total technology initiative money for the 1990-91 school year will be $1,545,897.
- The school board must provide $515,299 in matching funds to qualify for the state grant, which will give the district a total of $2,061,196 improving technology instruction.
- The sum equals about $33 per student in the district.
- The money allocation would be: $29,000 per elementary school; $42,000 per middle school; and $65,000 per high school.