District Dips Into General Fund to Pay for Tech Infrastructure

Saline Area Schools is dipping into money normally reserved for the classroom to fund much needed technology infrastructure upgrades. At Tuesday's meeting, the board of education approved spending about $450,000 on a five-year lease with Cisco to replace the backbone of the district’s technology system.

The district will spend about $91,000 a year for the next five years on the equipment, which should last 10 years, according to Heather Kellstrom, director of instructional technology for the school district.

“In technology, some things are sexy, like the devices and computers. Some things are not sexy, like the guts of your technology infrastructure,” said Kellstrom.

In 2010 and 2011, Saline district voters rejected bond issues that included technological upgrades. Money to pay for the upgrades is coming out of money that would otherwise be spent in the classrooms.

“We’re considering a motion to pay for infrastructure needs that most districts are paying for with bonds. We’re investing general fund dollars on infrastructure,” Superintendent Scot Graden said.

Kellstrom said the technology department, which has an annual budget of about $400,000, has been challenged trying to maintain a system composed of equipment that is “past end of life.”

“In business, you replace technology every five years. In education, we try to extend its life. Ours is up to 11 years old,” said Kellstrom. “We don’t want unplanned service outages. It’s becoming more and more difficult to provide the learning environment, day-in and day-out. We are desperate to change over. We spend many more hours on maintenance than we should.”

The equipment is expected to help the district maintain maximum “up-time,” strengthen the network and firewalls and provide better security. It should be implemented between October and January without interruption to service, Kellstrom said.

It’s not yet been determined how this will impact the budget. Assistant Superintendent Janice Warner and Graden will review the situation.

“It’s a $91,000 hit to this year’s budget,” Graden said.

It's the second hit the district has taken in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, the district learned that the state retirement rate the district pays into was rising more than originally expected, costing the district about $240,000 this fiscal year.

Trustee Dave Zimmer said it was remarkable what Kellstrom and her staff provide with old equipment. He said the district needs to find new ways to pay for equipment with a short shelf life.

“We have 20 year bonds, but buses don’t last 20 years and technology doesn’t last 20 years. The community doesn’t respond to paying a 20 year bond on things that will be obsolete in 10 years,” Zimmer said. “We need to find a difference solution.

The vote to approve the five-year lease was unanimous.

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