Educators Question if High-Tech Plan Is the Best Use of Funds

A state proposal to stock classrooms with high-speed computers, scanners, laser printers and other high-tech equipment could be a boon for Ventura County schools, local educators said Wednesday.

But they cautioned that the nearly $11 billion needed to turn the schools into techno utopias could also be spent addressing some of education’s thorniest problems--including class size and outdated materials.

“I personally believe that investing in technology could well be an investment in increased student learning,” said Charles Weis, county superintendent of schools, referring to the report unveiled Wednesday by a state task force. “The money is, of course, a question. Is this the best way to spend our money?”

Ventura County schools now average just one computer for every 14 students, compared with the national ratio of 1 to 10. Statewide, the ratio is one for every 73 students, although that figure does not include some aging machines that are still in use.

Many schools here are still not hooked up to the Internet, now considered a vital classroom tool for getting information from around the world.

Citing the academic success of well-wired districts--including the Hueneme Elementary School District--the 46-member California Education Technology Task Force recommended Wednesday that the state outfit each classroom with a computer for every four students, a telephone line, scanner, laser printer and other equipment.

The $10.9-billion price tag would also cover the cost of training teachers and technical support staff to use and maintain the equipment.

The task force--which included business executives, educators and community members--estimates that $4.2 billion of the sum would come from state revenues, grants and other existing sources. But the state would have to raise another $6.7 million in its effort to move California to the top 10% of the nation’s states with the most technologically advanced classrooms.

Without a state initiative, local school districts doubt that they can catch up to national standards.

“The districts just don’t have the money to do that now, ours especially,” said Lowell Schultze, director of information services for the Simi Valley Unified School District.

Schultze said his district has only one computer for every 25 students, possibly the worst computer-to-student ratio in the county. A few schools are now wired to the Internet, he said, but he estimates that it would take more than $1 million to hook up all the schools in the district.

Nevertheless, Schultze said the district has made technology a high priority and he backed the report’s findings that call for putting more money into computers.

“I think all kids are going to have to know technology when they graduate,” he said.

The task force’s report did not specify how much money for technology would flow to Ventura County if the state decided some day to implement the recommendations. But based on the county’s student population, Weis estimates that the county could stand to receive up to $264 million if a specific plan materialized.

Despite the dearth of computer technology in county schools overall, the Hueneme district--serving Oxnard and Port Hueneme--has made strides in the area, boasting the county’s best ratio with one computer for every three students.

Along with $2.5 million over five years from a state model technology school grant, the district has poured millions of dollars for technology into its schools. About 80% of the district’s classrooms are now wired to the Internet.

“The . . . district has produced profound changes in student learning environments through the use of interactive, networked technology,” the task force report said.

Over the past decade, the Hueneme district’s scores in math, science, reading and history climbed from about the 50th percentile to above the 80th when compared with students statewide.

But the Oxnard Union High School District, where most students from the Hueneme district end up, lacks computers, Internet hookups and other technology--like other school districts in the county.

The district now averages about one computer for every 17 students. But officials are spending about $420,000 from a state block grant to connect classrooms at the district’s five regular high schools to the Internet.

Altogether, Ventura County schools received $6.2 million from the technology grant.

Supt. Bill Studt said his district could use more technology in the classrooms, but that cutting class size and buying new instructional materials are also pressing needs.

“I think that there are some other issues facing schools that $11 billion might fix before we got into technology,” he said.

For instance, if California invested $11 billion annually, Weis estimates that class size across the state would drop by at least 12 students per classroom.

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