There Are Two Options for Leveraging This Program

Greetings!

OUSD applied for and received approval for the K-12 Educational Voucher Program. This program is a result of a legal settlement with the State of California and a major software publisher. This is a reimbursement program administrated by the Settlement Claims Administrator (SCA) for computer hardware and software. Schools that were in existence during the 2005-2006 school year and have a least 40% or more of their students on free and reduced lunch are eligible to participate in this program. Schools that have a new a CDS code during the 2005-2006 school or after are currently ineligible and may reapply in the Fall 2008 (see attached Eligible and Ineligible School Site Lists). The district will apply on behalf of any currently ineligible school with a CDS code issue in the Fall 2008.

Schools are strongly encouraged to thoughtfully consider new equipment purchases that will have a positive impact on student achievement. For equipment that has already been purchase make certain that you have original receipts of your purchase.

Vouchers need to be claimed by 2012 so there is ample time to plan effectively before purchasing. Review the suggested recommendations below and also refer to the attached document “Purchasing Technology-Based Products and Services - Questions to Ask to Make Effective Instructional and Program Decisions and Determine Your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)” for guidance.

Site reimbursement will be sent back to original purchasing site after the district receives its reimbursement from Microsoft.

There are two options for leveraging this program:

·  Option A – Reimbursement for eligible equipment that has already been purchased in the last 12 months (Strongly encouraged as this will provide additional school site cash flow)

·  Option B – New purchases of eligible equipment

Recommendations on how you might use this funding

(Questions and important points to review with your instructional leadership team)

§  Interventions to accelerate student learning who are not yet meeting proficiency are one of our top priorities. Explore solutions that are already being used in your school, and other OUSD schools, such as Plato, Read 180, and SRI. If you have an existing technology-based Intervention program (such as Read 180) at your school, does your program need to expand? Do you need to replace or upgrade important technology components of the Intervention solution to increase the effectiveness of your instructional program?

§  Student to Computer ratio in classrooms is key to ensuring the full implementation of intervention programs as well as providing a variety of opportunities for students to use the web to supplement the core curriculum. Conduct an assessment of the quantity and quality of student computers by classroom and identify how you might use these funds to upgrade and/or purchase additional computers.

§  Instructional Support Tools also accelerate the teaching and learning process in the classroom and should be considered as you assess your technology needs. Do you have the innovative technologies to attract and retain the highest quality teaching professionals? The use of computers, projectors, and Interactive White Boards, for example, have the potential to allow your teachers to teach in a 21st Century school and students to learn in a 21st Century classroom. There will be an emphasis on providing some district wide training for schools that purchase Interactive White Boards to ensure these are used effectively to enhance teaching and learning.

§  Staff Work Stations that are up to date enhance productivity in a variety of ways. For classroom teacher work stations that are fully functional encourage teachers to take advantage of OUSD core Technology applications such as Edusoft to monitor student progress, Aeries Browser Interface (API) to take student attendance on-line and access student information, to report absences and requests substitutes on line and to receive vital communications through email about resources and programs available to support teaching and learning. Laptops also provide teachers an opportunity to engage their professional work away from school should they choose to do so? For classified staff, especially office staff, having up to date technology enables them to use the variety of on line resources and training courses to improve their performance and manage daily and monthly deliverables.

§  Total Cost of Ownership is a key part of protecting your investments in technology. You may want to work with your office staff and ask for assistance from Technology Services to review the productivity and instructional software throughout your school to assure that your school is compliant with current licenses in the event of an audit. You may also want to look at the need for consistent technical support to maintain your technology. Do you have printers that do not work, computers that do not connect to the Internet, and software that needs to be installed? Did you know OUSD is an approved provider of technical support for the equipment purchased using funds K-12 Educational Technology Voucher program and you can use Voucher funding to support this activity?

What do I do Next to take advantage of this program?

Process for using your allocated K-12 educational technology voucher funds, apply for reimbursement and place your order

Reimbursement For Previous Technology Purchases

Step 1 - Fill out reimbursement form (attached). Contact Ann Kruze, , 510-879-1776 to process form and apply for reimbursement forms.

Purchase of New Technology

Step 2 - Meet with your Instructional Team to review the recommendations and formulate your needs to create your plan.

Step 3 - Eligible schools should complete the K-12 Technology Pre-Purchase Approval Form indicating specific items and obtain required approvals.

Step 4 - After Pre-Purchase Approval Form has been submitted and approvals have been secured, generate a requisition in IFAS or eMarketPlace so your purchase order can be forwarded to the vendor.

Step 5 - Fiscal Services will submit your Voucher request to the SCA for reimbursement. Each school will have an accurate account of the potential reimbursements under this program helping them plan for future purchases.

Reminder: Vouchers need to be claimed by 2012 so there is ample time to plan thoughtfully before purchasing. Schools will not lose the opportunity to take advantage of this program by waiting. Voucher credits will be monitored by the SCA. Schools that have an existing plan can move forward to make purchases to supplement their current efforts. Due to the legal rulings in place it is imperative that an eligible school make only purchases for eligible items (see attached Eligible Items List).

Questions

Technology questions may be directed to Ann Kruze, , 510-879-8540 or Leah Jensen, , 510-551-6023.