Kansas is Trying to Unload $10M in Unused Computer Equipment (apnews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes the Associated Press: Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer's administration is seeking a way to donate or sell at a steep discount as much as $10 million in unused computer equipment that has been stored in a state office building since 2016. The state still owes $2 million on the equipment, which it bought in 2016 as part of a failed plan to develop a centralized storage system, call Kansas GovCloud, for computer information. That idea was canceled by state IT officials who said it was too expensive. Instead, the state contracts with an outside company to store data on remote servers.

Attempts to sell the equipment failed to attract bidders, leading to discussions about finding someone to take the equipment before its value dropped to the level of scrap metal, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, said the state allocated $17 million, including $10 million for the equipment, before dropping the storage idea. Selling it for pennies on the dollar or donating it to someone has merit, he said. "The point is, equipment after a while just becomes obsolete. If somebody can use it, great. If you can get some money out of it, fine," Holland said.

Comments

$17 million is cheap...

[b0s0z0ku]

$17 million is cheap compared to the cost of data breaches on "third party clown" systems, and the cost of giving private data to the likes of Scumazon and Scroogle to play with.

Re: $17 million is cheap...

[infolation]

The âoecloudâ confuses and scares us!

Also âoeunicodeâ confuses and scares us!

But no money for teachers

[Anonymous Coward]

State had $17 million to waste on useless computers while their teachers were getting paid so little they had to work second and third jobs. I read about some teachers working at McDonalds after they finished teaching school. Keep in mind Kansas had a budget surplus before a trickle down economic ideologue became a governor. After what happened in Kansas should be death knell for myth of trickle down economy.

Re: But no money for teachers

[LostMyBeaver]

My hand is not raised because I donâ€(TM)t make anywhere near that little.

That said, I have never met a teacher who does not have to grade tests, plan, prep the classroom, etc... most teachers work a lot more than you seem to think. Why not offer teachers a trade... pay them 80% per hour of their current pay and offer them to charge per hour. If they turn it down, fire them because they are either lazy or they are idiots. Of course, you would likely end up having to pay the ones who stay 50% more.

It is obvious your teachers failed to educate you. Please learn to perform the slightest research before speaking about something. There is a new web site called Google and you can type questions into it. Use it ;)

Re:But no money for teachers

[Registered Coward v2]

Average Kansas teacher gets paid $53,314 (https://www1.salary.com/KS/Public-School-Teacher-Salary.html), before benefits. There are an average 180 days in a school year, with 6.64 hours in a school day, so 180*6.64=1195.2/$53,314=$44/hour. Raise your hand if you make close to $44/hour before benefits.

According to BLS, the average pay is $44,620. Kansas has 186 school days, which would not include any teacher work days but eve for an 8 hour days (most teachers are there before and after student instructional time), that works out to $30/hour. Add in time spent on teacher work days, preping for class, grading homework, etc. and it becomes even less. However, the 186 days worked doesn't mean teachers have another 6 months they can work, since that is spred out over about 9 months once vacation days are counted. Not many jobs will let you work 2 months, leave for 9 and return again. To put it into perspecive, between vacation and holidays most jobs only work 46 weeks out of the year, for a total of 1920 hours worked. If you asssume 4 teacher work days, tha means 190 days worked or 1520 hours, for an hourly rate of $29. A non teaching equivalent salary for 1920 hours is ~56K. By your standards, 56K is a great salary,

Re:But no money for teachers

[sjames]

You forgot that teachers have to work several hours a day after the last class grading papers, talking to parents, and filling out a never ending stream of documents and forms for the bureaucracy. Also many teachers end up having to pay out of pocket for needed supplies since the official channels will take so long the students will graduate before the request is filled (if ever).

Donate to Schools?

[jonesy16]

And the geniuses at the state level have or have not considered donating this to other public entities in the state, e.g., the public school systems, state universities, etc. that probably all receive some level of state funding?

Nice pitch

[AndyKron]

Sales pitch: Quick! Buy it before it becomes worthless.

10 Million

[Hognoxious]

It's just dust in the wind.

Outsourced to CGI Group for 59 mill over 10 years

[bongey]

Same contractor for healthcare.gov seems they are trying to unload the equipment to a school . https://www.seattletimes.com/n...

Re: Kansas Derp State

[PopeRatzo]

If government is so incompetent, why haven't you succeeded with your anarchy?

It's not anarchy, but Democrats swept the Kansas statewide office elections.

To give you an idea of how bad the Kansas GOP is, the people of Kansas elected a Native American lesbian to Congress over a Republican guy that Donald Trump campaigned and did rallies for and endorsed, and in a district that has been Republican for just about ever.

I notice you're quoting average

[rsilvergun]

and not median. I suspect the numbers are heavily cooked. I make good money in IT and I don't spend my evenings at McDonalds. Yet we know for a fact many teachers in Kansas are doing just that. Too many for it to be the occasional workaholic.

I know that in my neck of the woods schools in wealthy neighborhoods have much, much better pay. That's because schools are funded by property taxes, so wealthy districts have wealthy schools. That would, of course, screw up the averages. I can't find any sources for the $44k and $56k figures being but I wouldn't be surprised to find University research professors mixed in there with their $100k+ salaries. Again, anything to inflate the average.