Ed-Tech Policy News in Brief

Idaho Found to Waste Money on Software

By The Associated Press — March 31, 2015 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

State auditors say Idaho wasted $61 million on a software system to track and improve student performance that doesn’t work for most districts.

In a report released last week, the office of performance evaluations found that the department gave all districts access to Schoolnet but did not provide enough financial support or technical training. The department then minimized the problems.

The report also found that the department was overly ambitious in the software it selected, which was not designed to serve as a statewide platform. And the department lacked any oversight to evaluate if the software was beneficial to schools.

A version of this article appeared in the April 01, 2015 edition of Education Week as Idaho Found to Waste Money on Software

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Hiring, Retention, and Fill Rates: A Data-Driven Sub Strategy
Explore what keeps substitutes coming back and hear how one district rebuilt its substitute hiring process and improved its fill rate.
Content provided by Frontline Education
Early Childhood K-12 Essentials Forum Early Childhood Education: Building Essential Skills for Success
Join this free virtual event to examine the biggest challenges in supporting young children, from preschool through elementary school. 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Absenteeism Webinar
Attendance Isn't an Attendance Problem
Boost attendance by strengthening relationships, belonging, and support with practical strategies from Doug Fisher & Nancy Frey.
Content provided by Corwin

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Ed-Tech Policy Opinion Is the Backlash Against Tech in Schools Going Too Far?
As schools rethink their relationship with tech, there are questions they should be asking.
Lina Eroh
5 min read
Photo illustration of an elementary-aged Caucasian boy with outstretched legs and a laptop on his lap. He is sitting on a very large cellphone propped up by four orange construction cones. The background is a montage of overlapping rectangle shapes with some ghosted images of young elementary students using a variety of tech (headphones and cellphones).
Photo illustration by Gina Tomko/Education Week + Canva
Ed-Tech Policy FCC Launches Review of E-Rate Program Amid Screen Time Debate
The end of the E-rate program would be an "existential threat" for schools, advocates say.
4 min read
Debbie Castlen, a bus monitor for Daviess County Public Schools, sits in front of a parked school bus outfitted with wifi in the parking lot at Russell Shifley Park, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, in Owensboro, Ky. Castlen was working a 4-hour shift at the bus, which enables students without wifi at home to download their school assignments as the new school year begins with students working remotely.
Debbie Castlen, a bus monitor for the Daviess County public schools, sits outside a school bus equipped with Wi-Fi at Russell Shifley Park in Owensboro, Ky., on Aug. 26, 2020, where she worked a shift helping students without home internet download assignments as the school year began remotely. The setup reflects the kind of connectivity effort now under scrutiny as federal officials review the future scope of the E-rate program.
Greg Eans/The Messenger-Inquirer via AP
Ed-Tech Policy Education Groups Say New E-Rate Bidding Portal Will Hurt Small Districts Hardest
Supporters of the measure say it will create a more transparent bidding process.
3 min read
Chairman Brendan Carr testifies before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology oversight hearing of the Federal Communications Commission at Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr testifies during a House committee oversight hearing of the FCC in Washington, on Jan. 14, 2026. Some education organizations opposed a measure the FCC recently approved to create a new bidding portal for federal E-rate funds.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Ed-Tech Policy Schools Have Another Year to Make Websites Accessible. Why That Matters
People with disabilities say inaccessible online content is a barrier to participating in public life.
4 min read
A gif with web accessible icons around a computer screen with a magnifying glass.
Shivendu Jauhari/Getty