School Tech Support Costs on the Rise

Here is shocking story from eSchool News.  As if schools had anywhere to go but up.  It seems the trend is the same as I remember it years ago.  For many schools, total cost of ownership equals acquisition cost.

Now that core infrastructures require more personal attention (tech support), districts are cutting professional development and instructional applications to make ends meet.

Most districts in Ohio have between one and two support people.  When I have my students research the numbers they typically find each support person is responsible for 200 to 400 computers.  These computers run everything from Windows 9x to XP (maybe Vista in a few cases now), OS X and maybe even Linux.  Add the servers on top of that and maybe a district wide phone system or POS system in the cafeteria.

In Ohio we have experienced a funding drought from the state in the last few years.  Many districts have drastically reduced the hardware budget.  It would not surprise me if these shifts in the percentages (no dollar figures are given in this report) aren’t due to the fact that schools aren’t buying the hardware they were a few years ago.  I don’t see more people being hired.  I see fewer support people in schools now than I have at any time in the last ten years.