Technology staffers in Indian Prairie School District 204 have made major strides replacing old equipment during the past three years by spending an extra $11.5 million from interest earnings and other sources outside the typical tech budget, officials told the school board during Monday’s meeting.
But that extra funding has run out, and the current year’s technology budget fell about $1 million short of what Chief Technology Officer Rodney Mack said his team needs to keep classroom technology, network infrastructure, operational systems, and cybersecurity up to speed.
“To be a million short of what we had requested, it was a little bit hard,” Mack said. “We hid it in the classroom technologies area.”
Deferring IPSD 204 tech replacements
Projectors for middle and high school classrooms are one item Mack mentioned his department put off replacing.
“They still have projectors, but they’re dimmer. They’re not working as long,” he said. “A new bulb that used to last 6,000 hours is now lasting 1,000 hours. It doesn’t go very far.”
As the district balances technology imperatives along with pressing needs for facilities’ maintenance and safety or security upgrades, Mack said his team hopes not to fall too far behind.
“This deferment of tech needs, it will continue to add up,” he said. “We’re already down a million. Next year, if we’re down again, it’s just going to continue to add up.”
Balancing needed spending
School board members acknowledged the balancing act they face with allocating funding for the needs of 26,000 students and 3,700 employees across 36 buildings.
“It’s important to keep track of the deferments,” school board member Justin Karubas said. “When we make budget decisions, it’s important to try to figure out, ‘Are we going to defer a roof or the servers?’ This gives us some perspective.”
The district is seeking voter approval of a referendum question on the Nov. 5 ballot that would provide a new source of funding worth $420 million.
Bonds the district took out to build Metea Valley High School are scheduled to be fully paid by the end of 2026. So the referendum asks voters to approve new debt in the same amount to provide about $25.5 million a year, while keeping tax rates the same — instead of allowing them to decrease. Funding would go toward safety, security and infrastructure upgrades districtwide.
Putting a plan in place for tech needs
Meanwhile, Mack said, his technology team of about 45 employees is mapping out a plan to steadily replace devices before they begin to fail.
“What we’re trying to do is create a schedule so that we don’t have to ask for $11 million in three years,” he said. “Just a simple bump gets us to do a project a year, kind of thing, and maintain some sort of schedule.”
Technology is “just one of those things that we take for granted,” school board member Supna Jain said. She and others on the board said they appreciate the technology team keeping a watchful eye over which devices — such as Chromebooks for elementary students or uninterruptible power sources in case of a power outage — are overdue for a refresh.
“I applaud them for their commitment, their dedication and how fast they respond,” Superintendent Adrian Talley said about the district’s tech staffers — 20% of whom are District 204 graduates. “We couldn’t do this work without them.”
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