Tech levy a needed school expense

There are 3,000 digital devices in Kalispell Public Schools directly related to instruction for the 6,000-plus students in the district.

From taking attendance and inputting grades to accessing class assignments, research materials or online classes, technology is embedded throughout an average school day across School District 5.

The pervasiveness of technology and its growing importance as a linchpin of the education system are the foundations for the schools’ technology levy requests that will be mailed to voters on Monday.

Voters are being asked to approve $1.2 million a year — $600,000 for elementary schools and $600,000 for high schools — in the first time the Kalispell district has requested technology-only levies.

School officials hope to secure taxpayer approval of the money to maintain current equipment and networks, replace aging equipment and train personnel.

The money from these levy requests isn’t going to buy an iPad for every student.

In fact, a big chunk of the money — $454,000 annually — is slated to go toward infrastructure (everything from hardware to software to bandwith) improvements, while another $360,000 would repair or replace desktop computers.

The school district’s strategy, if the levies are approved, is to replace technology that is five or more years old — which in computer terms is ancient technology.

Technology in schools, we hope, will never supplant the most important facet of teaching — the teachers themselves.

But these days, technology, particularly when wielded by savvy educators, is a critical means to keep students engaged as well as prepare them for the future.

If we consider the techno-centric world our children are growing up in today, the investment in these technology levies seems minimal.

The high school levy would cost an average homeowner barely more than $1 a month. The elementary levy would cost about $2.40 a month.

Those are paltry amounts compared to how much most of us shell out every month for our kids’ cellphones and tablets and data plans.

These tax requests are investments in the present and future for our kids and they are well worth supporting.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.