An improving economy appears to be freeing up school districts’ ability to spend on technology and other tools and resources, including instructional materials, according to a survey of administrators.
A quarter of school district officials who responded to a survey said that they expected their instructional budgets to increase during the current school year, up from 16 percent the previous academic year, according to MDR, a market research company that tracks education trends.
In addition, roughly 90 percent of districts said they expected their 2014-15 tech budgets for hardware, software, teacher training, and technical support to stay the same or rise, according to the research. That’s a slight increase from the previous year in most of those categories.
In trying to gauge districts’ buying habits, the analysis offers a snapshot of something of a moving target. The survey information was collected in the spring of 2014, and it was based on phone and email responses from district directors of curriculum and technology, who were asked to comment on the coming academic year. More than 500 surveys were completed, divided between technology administrators and curriculum directors, according to MDR.
