LEONARDTOWN - The Board of Education listened politely to the report of the Technology Subcommittee of the Budget Advisory Committee at its June 29 meeting, then proceeded to defend its current budget decisions with regard to technology.

The subcommittee recommended additional funding for new computers, moving the Information Technology Department to report to the Superintendent directly rather than to the Chief Financial officer (as is currently the case), additional funding for Information Technology employees along with more recruitment and training of volunteers to help with Information Technology in the schools, the hiring of a full time grant writer, and better response and tracking of work requests.

The Subcommittee pointed out that when the school system received an additional $773,700 from the State, none of that money went to new computers. Board member Mary Washington asked how the money was spent, and Board President Cathy Allen said she had asked Mr. Carney to remind them. Chief Financial Officer Dan Carney then responded by listing how the Board had spent the $773,700, including using $185,070 of the money to accelerate the implementation of all day kindergarten, $106,160 for elementary and middle school special education teachers, two additional elementary school teachers at a cost of $106,160, $73,500 for an Infant and Toddlers Instructional Resource Teacher, $44,090 for a Human Resources Department secretary, $26,488 to fully fund the retirement system, $21,000 for freshman football, as well as other items.

Board Member Gary Kessler thanked the subcommittee for suggesting a plan. “Without a destination, any path will do,” he quoted. He said we are not going to continue to get the influx of hardware from the base, and that he is concerned about how we will get the hardware. Board Vice President Dr. Sal Raspa said that he didn’t think there was enough data. “We need a matrix of where the computers are,” he said.

The Subcommittee also noted that the school system spends 7/10's of 1% of its budget on Information Technology, while other organizations may spend as much as 12% of their budgets. The current computer ratio is better than the state average for school systems, but the Subcommittee thinks that may not be enough to allow our students to win the job competition for the best jobs.

Board President Cathy Allen said, “We need some kind of study or metrics.” Board Member Bill Mattingly said, “It all comes back to funding. It comes down to what’s a priority and what is not.”

Board President Allen told the subcommittee that when a new school is built, it gets new computers. The dollars for that are in our capital budget, she went on. She talked about the Information Technology Science course that is being offered in the 7th grade. “The students coming out of there are amazing,” she said.