If LAUSD can’t afford the Board of Ed’s $1 billion wish list how can it afford Supt Deasy’s $1 billion iPad wish list?

2 Oct 2014  ::   Apples v. Oranges. I know it’s not a fair comparison.

Dr. Deasy’s wish list spends $1 billion to buy 3 years of iPads and maybe ten years of wireless connectivity hardware.

Dr. D’s wish list spends bond funds. I remain convinced that the use of bond funds is legal – but it remains to be seen whether a panel of appeals court judges will agree.

If Dr Deasy is right about the need for 1-to-1 computers to do the Common Core Tests, every student in the 45 Common Core states (not just LAUSD) will need a dedicated computing platform, whether desktop/laptop or tablet.

The Board of Education’s  wish list funds class size reduction and counselors and nurses and arts and music programs, health ed and PE and libraries and library staff and after school  programs, etc, over one year with general fund money.

I’m assuming that the superintendent has underestimated the costs of his wish list (because he wants to do it)  and is overestimating the cost of the Board of Ed’s wish list (because he doesn’t want to do that).

This isn’t deceitful, it’s salesmanship.

LAUSD has made a down payment of $30 million on Dr. Deasy’s wishes – 6% of the total for iPads - and we’ve learned that what we’ve bought has security issues and curriculum content issues and needs keyboards and high school math and science content, etc. The curriculum content delivered is only 20% of what was guaranteed by Apple/Pearson by Dr. Deasy’s own admission. And the adequacy of professional development is questionable.

Maybe it’s time to make a down payment on the Board of Ed’s wish list.

And to consider that maybe the next superintendent might have his-or-her own wish list.