The School Board allocated no specific time for public comments on this proposal.
This proposal is designed to fund buying one computer for each student in the District in the next 6 years. Currently the ratio is approximately 1 computer to each 6 students. This increase is to be accomplished by using the funding from retiring building bonds to buy short life computers. This same funding, if used for bonds, would substantially fund the replacement of the academic portions of Federal Way High School, perhaps the most decrepit, high maintenance, secondary school in Washington.
There is little evidence that computers have been able to enhance student achievement in this district, which has had a computer based program for many years in one of its high schools.
Adding more computers will add to the support costs and has no evidence that it will increase student achievement.
We support the continued maintenance of the current level of computers in our schools and believe that the funds for retiring bonds should be recycled into the replacement of our older facilities not into short term high maintenance efforts with doubtful results.
We urge the rejection of this levy and submission of a continuation levy to support the existing level of technology support.