To Learn Twice

Continuing my discussion on technology budgeting... (much of what you read below was taught to me by other people - I take little credit for this wealth of information) One of the concepts that I didn't fully understand when I moved into technology was budgeting. Now I think I am pretty good at it. Later I will share a tool that I use that allows me to really tweak thing out and test changes in my overall plan before I actually make them. But I am getting ahead of myself. When it comes to technology budget planning I start with one key philosophy: Try to give everyone what exactly they will need for the next 3 years today. Here are the fine points of that statement: What they need may not be what they want What they need may not exist today Needs always change You can't do this on your own You cannot accomplish this goal So how do you achieve an impossible task? You don't. You just do your best to come as close as possible. So, you have to start with communication. Talk...

One of the biggest responsibilities that a Tech Director has is using their budget correctly to meet the needs of their school(s). For the 2009-10 school year I have a fabulous budget of $2,843,405 to meet all of the technology needs of our district (about $400 per student). This is a larger number than year's past (except last year) and is greater than we plan to spend each year over the next 10 years (the long term plan is about $315 per student per year). We are currently in the process of catching technology up in areas that we fell behind from the late 90's through 2006 due to a lack of funding for technology initiatives. We have in place a 3 year plan from 2008-2011 that was approved by the Board of Education that outlines our budget for each of those years. We built out our expected expenditures based on a long visioning and planning process last year. Now in year 2 we revisited those plans and put together a budget plan. We then shared that plan with all of the staf...