Bonds
Microsoft in Education (1996) suggests bonds as a funding strategy for education technology:
"Bond issues call for you to seek direct approval and funding from the public. Your success depends on many factors:
- Consider your district's track record with bond issues. How voters have responded in the past is your best clue to how they'll respond in the future.
- Secure your bond issue. Instead of a single, large bond measure, you might seek to separate your budget requirements into two or more separate bond measures. If one passes, at least you've got money to get started.
- Assign expenses. Many of your expenses--such as retrofitting older schools--are properly considered facilities' expenses and can be assigned under those budgets. Wiring and cabling can be considered part of the construction budgets for new schools.
- Get others to champion your bond measure for you. The plan will gain more support from voters if business, civic, press, parent, and other community leaders champion it for you. How? Get them on board early. If you've included them on your technology committee or a technology oversight or advisory committee, they should already be well aware of your plans. Get their approval before you seek voter consent. Encourage them to lobby on its behalf, especially since many areas have laws that prohibit the school district from lobbying directly.
- Prove your expertise. Here's where your pilot project experience can be an invaluable aid. Voters might reasonably question what the school district knows about technology and whether it can invest bond monies wisely. Publicize the results of your pilot projects to prove you have the expertise to succeed on a broader scale.
Note: Experienced administrators caution that a bond issue can have a negative, albeit minor, impact on other funds available to you for technology. When a large bond measure passes, a school board pinched for funds might be inclined to rescind some monies already provided in the current budget for a pilot project or for training and maintenance. The rationale--the technology committee no longer needs those budgeted funds because it can compensate with money from the bond issue!" (pp. 83-84)
