State Support Varies Widely

As states struggle with budget deficits, they try a mix of funding approaches to pay for educational technology programs.

With many states still tightening their belts because of revenue shortfalls, state funding for K-12 educational technology has been on the downturn. While some states devote considerable aid to school technology, many others rely more on federal money to pay for software, teacher training, and data management.

“Many, many states have faced huge deficits, so there’s been a real scaling back on many education programs,” says Melinda D. George, the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association, based in Arlington, Va.

State school technology directors in 44 states and the District of Columbia say inadequate funding or strong competition with other priorities are the biggest challenges they face in trying to finance K-12 technology, according to an Education Week Research Center survey. Of those states, 16 pointed to recent cuts in federal Title II, Part D aid, while 14 states said lack of state funding was a great challenge. Ten states also mentioned a lack of sustained funding for K-12 technology...