School board opts not to buy itself laptops

Kalispell Public Schools' board of trustees will not get new laptop computers, after a vote Tuesday night.

The board voted 6 to 4 to not buy a new Dell laptop for 10 of the 11 trustees and one for the central office. (Trustee Eve Dixon preferred to use her own and would not have needed a computer from the district.)

The district had proposed purchasing laptops for the board in an attempt to cut back on paper costs and make organization easier for the trustees.

The laptops would have cost about $928 apiece, or about $10,208 for all 11. The projected cost included high-powered batteries so board members could use the computers during meetings without needing an electrical outlet for each one, and two gigabytes of RAM, which would have allowed the laptops to handle current and future operating systems.

The laptops were "business class, not top of the line" and are the same computers the district provides its staff members and uses in students' mobile computer labs, district information technology director Richard Lawrence told the board at its regular meeting Tuesday. He estimated the computers would have five to seven years of 'very good use" - or longer, depending on how often they were used.

Lawrence also presented data comparing the laptops' cost with the amount the district spends each year to provide trustees with hard copies of policies and other paperwork. District Clerk Todd Watkins estimated paper, binders, copying and labor costs Kalispell Public Schools about $5,575 each year.

If the board had the laptops for six years, 11 computers would cost about $1,705 a year, Watkins figured.

Money for the laptops would have come from the district's forest reserve fund. The fund's amount varies every year, as it is based on how much lumber the state of Montana produces.

Historically, Kalispell Public Schools used forest reserve money for technology purchases at the district level, including servers, cell phones and fiber optics, Watkins said Wednesday. Classroom-level technology purchases have come from the district's building reserve and technology levy, which is renewed about every five years. That may come before voters this fall.

Superintendent Darlene Schottle told the board Tuesday that there is about $16,000 in the district's timber reserve fund, which would more than cover the cost of the laptops. But some trustees were concerned about spending the money on themselves when it could potentially be spent on technology for classrooms.

"I want to make sure our kids are taken care of before I am," Mary Ruby said.

Ivan Lorentzen agreed.

"At this point in time, we can afford it all right, but how else could the funds be used in the classroom?" he asked. "I would rather put this money in classrooms than on the board."

Dixon also was concerned about how taxpayers would perceive the purchase.

"How will this look to the public, especially when we're going to try to pass a building reserve (levy) in November?" she asked the other trustees.

Some trustees, however, thought the laptops' benefits outweighed the possible negative perceptions. Trustee Tom Clark said that in his first year on the board, he has acquired a stack of papers a few feet high. A laptop would improve his organization, he said.

"If I want to go back and find something, it's impossible," he said. "I think sometimes boards need to spend a little of their money to be a little more efficient."

Board chairwoman Anna Marie Bailey pointed out that laptops could also provide the board greater consistency. When a new trustee joins the board, the outgoing board member could simply pass on the laptop so the new trustee would have access to background information and important documents.

Dixon suggested putting documents online in a secure location that trustees could access from home or work prior to meetings - an option Lawrence said was feasible.

"Most documents are digital already. It's just a matter of putting them in the right place," he said.

The vote was close, with Bailey, Clark, John Osweiler and Bette Albright voting in favor of buying laptops and Dixon, Ruby, Lorentzen, Rick Davis, Don Murray and Jean Barragan opposing the purchase. Trustee Alice Ritzman was absent.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com