State Senate Halts Expansion of Classroom Laptop Program

Also online at KELOLand.com!

I'm not sure if this is just political brinksmanship by State Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem, but if it is, it got the South Dakota Senate's overwhelming approval 33-2: yesterday the Senate cut $2.95 million from HB 1087, the General Appropriations Act. That $2.95 million was intended for general fund operating expenses on the "Technology in Schools" line of the Department of Education budget, which KELO gives us to understand is the money Governor Rounds wanted to expand the classroom laptops program.

Echoing the Madville Times, Senator Heidepriem says that money "should be used instead to boost state aid to schools" [AP's words, "Senate Cuts Money for Student Laptops," KELOLand.com, 2008.02.27]. Indeed, if money is tight (if?!), we have to make the best use of it. And we can find at least a dozen better uses for that state money than pouring it into subsidies for Gateway (which, now owned by Acer, laid off 130 South Dakota workers after promising in October that there would be no layoffs).

But consider: this budget cut doesn't have to mean the end of laptops in the classroom. Right now the state's "Classroom Connections" program pays only one third of the cost of Gateway's $1200 tablet PCs (the kind with the fancy swivel screens you can write on electronically with a stylus). The participating districts (including Madison Central), pay the remaining two thirds of the cost, or $800 per computer.

A year and a half ago, I bought my current laptop, an HP dv5000 for $600. Sure, there's no fancy swivel screen or stylus, but it handles DSU's doctoral program just fine. The schools who are looking to buy laptops for their students could get a fair amount of computer, software, and support for $800 a pop and not need a penny from the state. Why wait for the Senate or Governor Rounds to chip in money to help you buy more computer than you need? Head down to Radio Shack, place a bulk order that will put a big smile on your local dealer's face, and off you go.

Now there's still a debate about whether spending all this money on laptops actually improves education. With all the rules and restrictions the schools place on the computers they issue, kids might be better off with computers they or their parents buy themselves (remember the free market?). If kids had their own computers, they'd be able to tinker with them at will and really learn how the machines work.

But if we want the schools to buy the laptops, Senator Heidepriem's frugality need not stop us. Let's look past the glossy pages of Gateway's catalog and focus on getting a better deal on basic machines that still have all the functionality our kids and teachers really need for the classroom.