An Apple for Your Teacher – Fed funds help schools become more tech-savvy

It’s shaping up to be a grim year for the Spokane Public School district in Washington state. Like so many others, it is making deep cuts in everything from teaching staff to school supplies this coming school year. But there’s one bright spot for the district: The amount of federal dollars to incorporate technology in the classroom—and to train teachers to use it—is expected to double to about $160,000 from the previous year.

At the same time school districts around the nation are bracing for a round of severe belt-tightening as a result of strained state and local budgets, they’re also getting a significant bump in federal funding to make their classrooms more tech-savvy, which they hope will help improve student performance.

The only problem: Districts are prohibited from using the money for any other purpose—which can mean that they have to cut staff and other programs while spending lavishly on computers.

By ANNE MARIE CHAKER

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