With respect to traditional educational funding, the landscape is sub-optimal at best. With already tight state and local budgets potentially cut significantly due to tax revenue losses – and technology budget needs being stretched beyond the breaking point to support 1:1 initiatives, new avenues to funding need to be explored.
The recently passed federal CARES Act provided approximately $30 billion to address these challenges including:
$13.5 billion for K-12 schools
$14 billion for higher education
$3 billion for governors to spend for their states
However, some school districts have yet to access these funds as the trickle down may be delayed by unclear eligibility requirements, stalled paperwork or offsets from previous budget reductions. While this gap is daunting, bridging it is possible if districts are willing to step out of reliance on their federal, state and local government sources. Specifically, districts that are leaping ahead are investigating:
Grants
Voter-approved bonds
Nonprofit/private sector partners
The funds through alternative sources such as these are often more tailored to the immediate and specific local needs of their districts and the children they serve. One notable recent example involves the private organization known as The Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF).
This congregation of private philanthropist foundations is committed to improving outcomes for the people of Michigan however possible, and recently seized upon an opportunity to help the large population of underserved Michigan students caught on the wrong side of the digital divide in education. When the districts that each of their foundations serves had to quickly pivot to distance learning, many students without devices and supporting infrastructure were in desperate need of assistance. Stratix (in conjunction with CMF and State of Michigan) quickly crafted a mobile technology program that leveraged partnerships with Samsung, HP, Bark and T-Mobile – among others – to provide the devices, configuration, and student support needed for a seamless out-of-the-box experience.
None of it would’ve been possible without readily accessible alternate funding sources. It’s a clear indicator that school administrators and decision makers must be prepared to apply innovative strategies to obtaining funding if they hope to thrive amidst an increasingly challenging fiscal environment for their districts.
