Schools Eye Future Costs

Educators are using a business concept to forecast the costs of technology.

School leaders across the country have made multimillion-dollar investments in technology, but the costs of maintaining and supporting computers have left many districts searching for long-term financial solutions.

“People are beginning to understand that there’s an ongoing cost with the purchase of technology,” says Ed Zaiontz, the executive director of information services for the 36,500-student Round Rock Independent School District, located just north of Austin, Texas. “Just because you paid to buy it doesn’t mean there aren’t [long-term] costs that go with it.”

Having a well-developed approach to technology planning and spending has become an important goal for Zaiontz, whose district began heavily funding school technology in the late 1990s. In 1997, taxpayers approved a $99 million bond that earmarked $22...