Unbundling School Technology Purchases

I may have mentioned it before, but schools are big business. In the U.S. alone, some 50 million school-aged boys and girls are not only gracing our schools with wide-eyed wonder, they are also helping to drive our economy in an industry that spends a cool $700 billion on everything from piping hot breakfasts to busses to software. In fact, once you get past all the basics like salaries and utilities that eat about 80 percent of the pie, and you'll find that software represents a huge slice of what's left. Little Johnny and little Suzy are forking over between $100 and $250 per kiddo on software and technology purchases. The ability for districts to efficiently buy and manage Suzy and Johnny's massive appetite for software can drastically effect the school district's capacity to properly educate each child.