(Update: Please notation corrections at the end of the article on points marked with an asterisk.)

Is it legal to buy personal computers for students using school construction bonds? And if information technology'south legal, is it wise to pay interest long-term on devices with a curt shelf life?

Last month, the Bond Oversight Committee for  Los Angeles Unified balked at endorsing Superintendent John Deasy's plan to buy tablet computers with bonds intended primarily for edifice and renovating schools. In doing so, the Committee raised questions that other school districts likewise should be asking.

At that place'south no unqualified respond to the questions that the Bond Oversight Committee asked, and school districts similar San Diego Unified and Riverside Unified have come to reverse conclusions. What all concur on, however, is that the state needs to provide legal clarity and, most importantly, dollars.

Most districts don't need convincing that engineering is key to a 21st century classroom, simply, with budgets remaining tight afterwards years of cutbacks, they're scratching their heads over ways to pay for it. And they're questioning how the state tin commit to figurer-based standardized tests in two years, based on the new Common Core standards, without helping equip schools to administer the tests.

Deasy wants to utilise $17.v meg in previously canonical structure bonds to buy 7,000 computers for students in 14 schools, upgrade schools' Internet chapters, install management systems for the devices, and train personnel in how to maintain them. This would be a pilot programme, footstep one in Deasy'due south goal to spend upwards of $400 1000000 for the district eventually to go fully digital.

He came one vote shy of getting the Bond Oversight Committee's blessing; he needed eight votes on the 14-member committee only got 7. In a letter to Deasy, Committee Chairman Stephen English language reassured him that the committee is sympathetic but wants more assurance that such a programme is sustainable long-term.

Photo by Christy Tvarok Green

Photo by Christy Tvarok Green

"I believe the BOC volition prove enthusiastic most this programme, which the BOC has been advocating for several years. Withal, in order to fulfill its oversight responsibilities, the BOC will demand to be confident that the program has a well-structured and realistic implementation plan," he wrote.

Legal employ but …

There'due south no disagreement that school bond funds can be used to upgrade wiring, install wireless receivers and pay for figurer direction systems. Bonds can also be used to train system managers. But laptops, tablets and netbooks – devices that price anywhere from $200 to $800 – are a different matter. Unless the financing is structured advisedly, taxpayers could stop upwards paying involvement on 25- or 30-yr bonds used to purchase devices that only terminal a few years.

The average life of an nugget, whether a edifice or furniture, should lucifer the length of financing as a rule of thumb. If financed with a 25-twelvemonth bond at, say, iv.five percent interest, a $500 computer would accumulate $one,000** in involvement expense by the time it'southward paid off.

Simply Tom Rubin, a consultant for the Bond Oversight Commission, cautions that the bail market is circuitous, and districts would take options to lower costs. They can make heavy principal payments in early years, lowering the interest expense. And they can take out bonds with maturity dates of three to vii years at a lower involvement rate. Since short-term bonds crave compressed payments, districts commonly seek the flexibility from a mix of terms. The average length of maturity of bonds in Los Angeles Unified is 21 years.**

Rubin said that after a thorough review of state regulations and laws – including the education lawmaking; Proffer 39, which lowered the threshold for passing schoolhouse bonds to 55 percent; and the fine impress of Measure Q, the commune'south bail initiative – both the general counsel and bond counsel for LA Unified agreed that information technology's legal to buy iPads with structure bonds. The of import stardom is that they're assets, not operating expenses, said Rubin.

Just, he added, several concerns have given the Bail Oversight Committee suspension. How will the district pay for replacement computers: more bonds, its operating budget? And will the commune accept the staff to manage and repair the computers? The committee wants answers before recommending the pilot program. Although its vote is strictly advisory to the school board, and then far Deasy has non pressed forward.

And so there'south the question of whether students tin accept the computers dwelling house with them – the district's eventual intention. The bond counsel's decision was no,** not if they're purchased with construction bonds. And there are disinterestedness concerns that the Bond Oversight Commission would like addressed: Suppose students at home don't have Internet connections needed to practise schoolwork.

Outdated analogies

One problem is that police and interpretations of information technology haven't kept up with technology. A state attorney general's opinion from 1963 said that districts could use bond funds to stock a new school's library but not to buy replacement volumes. In the 1990s, the attorney general's office took the position that districts couldn't use bail funding to purchase textbooks. Two decades after the comparable question is, are netbooks more coordinating to library books or textbooks? And, as learning shifts to the Internet and takes identify 24/seven, shouldn't students be able to accept home equipment that'due south integral to learning? Rubin, English and others say it'southward important for the chaser general and the Legislature to analyze the conditions under which districts tin use bail coin on technology.

Meanwhile, districts are going their own way. Using authority from a 2008 bond measure, San Diego Unified financed 77,790 netbooks for $38.6 million and 21,507 iPads for $ix million. Within a few years, every pupil from third course on will accept a computer in the state'due south second-largest district. There is no policy restricting home use in the current pilot programme, said Bernie Rhinerson, the commune'southward chief of staff and district relations.

But Riverside Unified, a district that has been ambitious in deploying applied science and expanding online learning, has chosen not to utilize bond money to purchase portable computers. "The question for me is how do y'all justify [using coin intended for capital improvements] for a lifetime of 2 or three years?" asked Superintendent Rick Miller, adding that $200 netbooks don't rise to the threshold requiring them to be inventoried.

By using grants, discretionary money at the school site and unrestricted textbook coin, Riverside Unified, with 42,000 students, has managed to buy 18,000 devices. Using bond money would be risky, Miller said. "All is OK until someone challenges it [the apply of bonds] and so things get haywire. I want to avoid that situation."

How the land tin aid

School districts in other states don't have to resort to long-term borrowing to buy computers; they accept sufficient money in their operating budgets, Miller said. He suggests ways that the state can help California's greenbacks-strapped districts:

Parcel taxes: They generate additional operating money for districts and brand more sense than bonds for funding inexpensive computers. But parcel taxes require a two-thirds bulk for passage. More than districts might consider them if the threshold for passage were lowered to 55 percent – the same as for school construction bonds. Early next twelvemonth the Legislature, with a supermajority of Democrats, may vote to put the issue before voters in 2014.

Tax credits for parents: Riverside Unified has a policy of allowing students to bring their own computers to form. Miller said the Legislature should consider revenue enhancement credits to encourage more families to buy their own computers, reducing the demand for the commune to fund them.

Land bail outcome: Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is advocating placing a state school construction bond on the election in 2014, though he hasn't yet said for how much and for what purpose. Miller said that funding technology needs of districts should be the commencement priority – ahead of edifice new classrooms and schools. "Solve the applied science infrastructure problem kickoff," Miller said.

Torlakson doesn't need to exist convinced that school technology is important. In August, a 48-fellow member Teaching Technology Job Force released a 35-page memo endorsing a broad expansion of online learning and assessments. Among its recommendations, it called on the land to "ensure that every student has admission to at least ane Net continued device for learning any time, any place." The written report, still, did non discuss how to pay for them.

Update: Several points in the article, as indicated by asterisks, were inaccurate. The interest on a 25 year bond at 4.v percent involvement would be  $337.93 on a typical bond amortization used past Los Angeles Unified and most districts. The $ane,000 interest cited would be for those districts that unwisely financed with a capital appreciation bond with compound interest. two. The electric current average length of maturity for Los Angeles Unified's construction bonds is 12.3 years. The district, when possible, finances with shorter term debt. The 21-year average cited in the story refers to one series of bonds that the commune floated.  iii. It is unclear whether students legally can accept to their homes computers purchased with schoolhouse bonds, and districts would like the Legislature to clarify the event. At this betoken, Los Angeles Unified'south bond counsel has not taken a position on the matter.

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