School board funds technology purchase

The Sisters School Board has agreed to take a small gamble to ensure that the new high school will open this fall with a nearly full complement of new computers and related equipment.

Actually, District Technology Coordinator Todd Pilch is taking the main gamble.

Originally, the board approved a cautious approach to the purchase of $844,000 worth of "fixtures, furnishings and equipment" (FF&E) for the new building. It accepted Superintendent Steve Swisher's estimate that the district will receive that much from a state fund earmarked for these expenses for new or remodeled school buildings.

But Swisher warned that because of the timing of the state budget process -- and the uncertainty of funding by the current Legislature -- the district won't be sure of the amount it will receive until next spring.

So the board divided its FF&E spending plan into three tiers, authorizing the spending of $611,000 immediately, another $160,000 in October and a final $113,000 next February. The idea was that Tier II and III amounts could be adjusted as the state funding picture came into sharper focus.

For technology, the tiers contained $118,000, $120,000 and $19,000, for a total of $257,000.

At the May 5 school board meeting, Pilch asked for authorization to spend his full allotment now rather than spreading it over the next 10 months. That would make it possible for the high school to open with a predominance of new computers, printers and related equipment and a smaller component of old machinery brought in from the current high school building, which is being converted to a middle school.

Installing mostly new technology equipment at the outset would save the cost of moving old equipment in and out during the school year, Pilch explained. More significantly, it would save the cost of a lot of maintenance and repair that would otherwise be required for the older equipment.

Pilch discussed two alternatives to achieve his goal, leasing and borrowing. The board quickly discarded leasing as not economical in the long run, and opted in favor of borrowing.

The $257,000 technology purchase will become part of overall FF&E spending financed through a Bank of the Cascades line of credit that the board will use for this purpose until the state grant is received. The bank has offered a three-year loan at 2.77 percent interest.

Several board members expressed concern about moving the technology portion of the budget to the head of the purchasing line, but administrators in the audience backed Pilch's idea, arguing, as Sisters Middle School Principal Lora Nordquist put it, that "technology is not just another department. It underlies everything we do."

In the end, the board unanimously authorized the technology purchases, with an important qualification: If the state grant falls short of what is expected, the technology-related portion of the shortfall will be taken out of Pilch's regular operating budget in the form of three annual installments.

That budget is pegged at $82,000 this year, not counting the director's salary and benefits.

Pilch said he was willing to take the risk of being "on the hook" for about $40,000 a year in exchange for being able to make his equipment purchases now.

He will use the savings in avoided moving and maintenance costs to cover the make-up payments if they become necessary.

For their part, board members implied that, if the state grant does fulfill their expectations, they will look favorably upon an anticipated request for an additional $120,000 or so in technology equipment.

Pilch said that amount would be needed to complete the job of equipping the new high school and middle school. Pilch is hoping to be able to use some of his budget to finance a loan for that final piece of his overall plan.