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Ann Arbor Schools Want $45M For Tech, Partly For Computers To Run Google Docs

Posted by timothy on from the air-force-bake-sale-any-day dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Ann Arbor Public Schools defended their request for a $45 million bond for new computers by claiming that Apple eMacs aren't good enough for their Advanced Journalism class. A teacher told reporters that new PCs are needed to run WordPress, Google Docs, and Adobe InDesign CS6. WordPress and Google Docs are server-based applications that can be accessed with nearly any web browser. InDesign CS6 has not been released yet and its system requirements are unknown. As a web developer, I am impressed by the online newspaper published by the journalism class, but I question the need for new hardware. The district previously claimed that the old computers couldn't run its standardized testing software, although they far surpass the vendor's specifications. Does modern education really require cutting-edge computers, or are schools screaming 'think of the children' to win over tech-illiterate voters?" Whatever the answer to that question, exaggerated system requirements aren't the only driving force; the $45 million bond sought would not be dedicated only to replacing journalism program computers, note; it would also be used to fund other infrastructure upgrades, including some lower-tech updates, like new sound amplifiers in the district's classrooms. Ann Arbor schools' web site says that the district has (as of 2010, at least) 16,440 students. What are tech outlays like in the public schools where you live?

10 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. Seems a little inflated... by gr3yh47 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    $2700 and change per student seems a little high for a tech budget...

    1. Re:Seems a little inflated... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When you're spending other people's money, and taking a cut for yourself ("adminstration"), the object is to waste more, not less.

    2. Re:Seems a little inflated... by tripleevenfall · · Score: 5, Funny

      IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN!

    3. Re:Seems a little inflated... by JBMcB · · Score: 5, Interesting

      " They have strong incentives to be wasteful."
      STFU. I word with civil servants, and they are far, FAR more responsible with money then people in the private sector.

      LOL really? Travel about 50 miles due east to the wonderful world of the Detroit Public school system. Just Google them to see how insanely wasteful that district is. They built a brand new campus for one of it's better high schools, and replaced *everything* The old building was left full of lab equipment and textbooks - to rot. Some of it was new. They had an entire warehouse full of brand new office supplies and textbooks that was left to rot as well. When an EFM was brought in a couple of years ago, he found rampant fraud and mismanagement throughout the entire system - to the point where the district had no idea how much it owed to suppliers.

      Now travel forty miles north to Pontiac, MI. A recent review of their school system's finances revealed $135,000,000 in unaccounted transactions over a four year span in the 2000s. That's $135 million in money spent - and they have *no idea* where it went. The average number of irregularities in an audit of that size is maybe a couple dozen. There were over 28,000. There were $200,000 in payroll irregularities, which should *never* happen. The city had the report completed two years ago, and they kept it under wraps and did nothing about it in that time span.

      I could go on and on. The pressure to limit waste in private enterprise is clear - less waste equals more profit. There is no profit motive in the public sector. The reverse is true - the more you spend the more budget you get. If you are a politician you can legally buy votes by cranking up pension benefits that you won't have to worry about funding. It's a broken system.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    4. Re:Seems a little inflated... by geekoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's nice, but I actual work with government finance people, and various other public servants. Every day.
      Which turned out to be a nice surprise when I first started doing government audits, and then later got a government job.

      Of course may where you are the public servants happen to fall into every unproven yet stereotypical and exaggerated characture ever conceived.

      I can't speak for your experience, only for my hundreds of audits in both sectors, and my decades of work experience.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  2. eMacs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Apple stopped production on the eMac line back in 2006. Assuming they got the last one for sale, that means a 6 year lifespan. Sounds like they're due for a replacement.

    1. Re:eMacs? by gman003 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Due for replacement? That's putting it mildly. Especially since:
      a) They're way unsupported, even by Open Source. First off, they're PowerPC chips - the highest version of Mac OS you can put on them is 10.5, which quite a lot of programs don't support - even some open-source ones. And I've tried installing Linux on an eMac - I never actually got it working. So their best option may be upgrading.
      b) The eMac was the "cheap, low-power" Apple computer. It used cheaper, lower-end parts, often already outdated (it used G4 chips until the end, while iMacs made the jump to G5 two years earlier). I can totally believe that they're unable to run Illustrator. Even current versions of Firefox might be a bit of a stretch, since I doubt the PPC builds are as heavily optimized as the x86 ones. Keep in mind, this is a machine with 256MB of RAM and, at best, a 1.4gHz, single-core processor, about on par with a Pentium II. Most of the students probably have more processing power in their phones.
      c) It's a freaking CRT screen. A 1280x960 CRT screen. I would absolutely hate trying to do graphics work on one of them.

  3. Sigh, slashdot is rather prone to hyperbole by FhnuZoag · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As TFA says, "more than half of the $45.8 million, about $25 million, would be spent to replace the district’s computers — both laptops and desktops.". So that comes down to 1520/student. More importantly, this is for a program of improvements over the next *ten years*, not an immediate replacement job - as the article argues that the >3 years old computers currently in use are obsolete, I assume the money might fund more than one cycle of improvements. At one cycle per 3 years, we're talking ~500 dollars per student, not accounting for inflation, which seems pretty sensible. Anyway this all seems like a storm in a teacup.

  4. eMacs by jackherer · · Score: 5, Informative
    eMacs are PowerPC based and therefore won't run recent versions of Mac OS and also won't run recent versions of Safari or Firefox. I wouldn't be surprised if this means they don't support Google Docs etc fully or even at all.

    They really are pretty much useless these days, I have just retired an office full of them that have been soldiering on for years but the number of websites that were simply not available to them became too great.

  5. I live in Ann Arbor... by macwhizkid · · Score: 5, Informative

    I grew up and now work in Ann Arbor. Posting as anonymous, for obvious reasons. First, some background. Ann Arbor Public Schools has become a reference model for how not to run a school district. The district routinely has nationwide searches at great expense to find a new superintendent, simply because (1) the average tenure of a superintendent in Michigan is less than two years and (2) none of them are stupid enough to come to a district as dysfunctional as Ann Arbor.

    The current superintendent came from a rural district in Pennsylvania, and was old enough to actually retire from her old district to take the job here. But hell, at least she was available.

    The tech crisis is at least real. Those really are eMacs being used in the classrooms... yes, the eMac that Apple stopped making in 2005. The district has a budget deficit of $14 million, due to a perfect storm of decreasing state funding (Michigan is not exactly a bastion of tax revenue), decreasing local property values, and fewer students (the #1 local tax payer and #2 employer, Pfizer, pulled out in 2007).

    The odd thing is, the district is, by many measures, not bad. But that's due primarily to high student achievement due to the relatively educated population (over 70% of Ann Arbor residents have a 4-year degree or more). Meanwhile, we have high schools that are too big, middle schools that are a disaster, and elementary schools that are actually OK (but not great). On a side note, did I mention that my father teaches for AAPS, and I went to private school? Yeah...