On Friday, I listened to a webinar that discussed in detail the various components of the education stimulus plan. The moderators discussed each area and the opportunities that were available in each of them. They also discussed the timing of the funding, which included an immediate $44 Billion being made available to states in the next 30-45 days. In theory, this all sounds like a windfall for school districts. But as a long-time business strategist, I’d like to dig into the mechanics and underlying strategic premise of this stimulus bill.
After sitting through the webinar, I found the most interesting point to not HOW the funds are to be spent, but WHEN they must be spent. These funds must be spent within two years! Unlike the NCLB funds, states and school districts must spend these with the concept of “short-term investment for long-term benefit.” The moderators explicitly stated that “any ongoing license fees for educational technology projects would not pertain to this stimulus money, but NCLB money.” That’s just not feasible, in my mind, and let me explain to you why.
What I inferred from this stimulus bill is that school districts are to assume that they’re going to make some quick, large investment and that will be the panacea for their ills. Change does NOT happen that rapidly, especially in a mature industry, and education is no different. It will take years of sustained investment and continued innovation for politicians and educators to determine whether our education system is heading in the right direction. Innovation does not happen overnight, and I would be very skeptical if anyone actually believed that there is a quick fix to our problems. Many education technology products are not a “buy once” pricing model, but typically are funded through either ongoing maintenance fees and/or license fees, as the products are typically renewed each year and in many cases there may be an annual surcharge for “product enhancements,” etc. I think the education technology community deserves to better understand which products can access the stimulus funds and which cannot.
At the moment, I am in a quandary about this process, and based on what I heard on Friday, I continue to share the same skepticism that my colleagues in this “reinvent education” movement have about whether or not the stimulus will be allocated to the right solutions under a logical, effective implementation plan. I read recently that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes that a large amount of their previous education grants were spent unwisely. Lets not have the government have this happen with other people’s precious tax dollars too.
I pray that this money goes to the right solutions and the right people are overseeing its stewardship.
