Technology updates throughout the Warren County School District have been on a three-year hiatus due to budget constraints.
But updates can only be delayed for so long.
According to an executive summary posted on wcsdpa.org, "An immediate need to purchase computers for the Pre-Engineering Curriculum has arisen." The $17,088 expense is necessary because the computers the students in the program are currently working with "are unable to keep up with the minimum specifications to allow (the teacher) to properly administer the curriculum."
The district will be able to save some money by using the COSTARS program. According to the Pennsylvania Department of General Services website, "COSTARS is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's cooperative purchasing program administered by the Department of General Service Bureau of Procurement. The COSTARS program provides registered local public procurement units as well as state-affiliated entities and suppliers a tool to find and do business with each other effectively through the use of a contract established by DGS." The goal of the program is to "provide contracts with competitive pricing, while providing increased opportunities for suppliers and eligible participants."
Superintendent Brandon Hufnagel said that this technology update request will be "the first in a series of these" as the district will be addressing computer upgrade needs throughout the district.
In a budget presentation prepared by district administration for a Jan. 23 budget deliberation session, technology cuts were identified as "temporary and eventually will need reintroduced to the budget. We are only delaying the expenditure to another fiscal year and actually increase future costs."
This is the third year of technology cuts in the district.
The motion presented to the board on Monday was approved unanimously.