Background

What does the K12 TCO Calculator do?

The K12 TCO Calculator calculates approximate costs for implementing a school's Five-Year Technology Plan. These costs are based on input from current and projected inventory and practice, professional development needs, building characteristics and proposed modifications, electrical power consumption, and goals defined in the Five-Year Technology Plan. It will take time to find all the data necessary to calculate projected costs. This reflects a fundamental characteristic of technology TCO: integrating technology will impact more than your hardware and software budget, it will affect the entire school. It will influence your professional development program, instructional practice, classroom and building use, and energy consumption. Considering these factors during the planning phase will result in better-informed decisions when implementing the plan. After required data are entered, the calculator creates charts and tables that display: projected costs of major expenses, such as computers and peripherals, telecommunications, professional development, building modifications, and electrical power consumption. These costs are broken down for Year One of your Five-Year Technology Plan Year One adjusted for E-Rate savings Total of Years One through Five of your Five-Year Technology Plan Total of Years One through Five adjusted for E-Rate savings and inflation a comprehensive Cost Summary that includes breakdowns of cost per student as well as overall budget figures projections for hardware and software purchases based on attendance figures, desired student-to-computer ratio, and replacement costs based on average equipment life span. View Examples of Output Data (The demo data will be displayed in a new window.)

Who should use the K12 TCO Calculator?

The K12 TCO Calculator is designed to help school leaders in the following ways: A building-level administrator working alone can use the calculator to fine tune practice and purchases at the building level. These school leaders do not have a major impact on service providers (energy, network, maintenance, support) but do have impact on some training and hardware and software purchasing decisions that ultimately impact TCO. Building-level or central office administrators working on a technology committee can provide data for district-based decisions that will impact individual buildings and budgets. (Calculations are for a single school only.) A superintendent or school board member may seek summary data for individual schools and identify significant cost items and systems that impact TCO. If you are a first-time user of the K12 TCO Calculator, we suggest you read the basic assumptions first then choose Get Started to begin your own school profile.

A Note to Users

This tool provides an estimate of the multiyear costs of implementing and maintaining technology systems in an existing school in the United States. The costs for individual products and services are not meant to reflect any individual company's offerings, and the actual total system cost can be expected to differ from the estimate. This calculator provides only an estimate of the cost of a technology system in a K-12 school. Neither AEL nor the Integrated Technology Education Group, LLC can be held responsible for the accuracy of the output, its relationship to actual costs incurred, or its ultimate use by the school administration or its designated representatives.

Privacy Policy

Information stored in the K12 TCO Calculator is confidential. AEL will not share this information or contact users without their permission. Trend analyses of the data may be performed to support the development of this and future projects and services; the data will be separated from school and contact names to make them anonymous.

TCO on the Web

For more information about TCO in K12 education, check out these Web resources. Building the 21st Century School. North Central R*TEC and NCSA Taking TCO to the Classroom. Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) Technology Integration 2000-2002. National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities.

Thank You!

IAETE thanks the following individuals and organizations for providing information that supported the development of the K12 TCO Calculator. Paul Abramson, President, Intelligence for Education, Inc. Mary Baker, Broward County Schools, Florida Rich Brandwein, CEO, PlanetConnect Karen Busher, Instructional Technology Specialist, Franklin County Schools, Virginia Janet Copenhaver, Director of Technology, Henry County Schools, Virginia Bill Day, Senior Analyst, KBD Planning John Gebbie Karen R. Greenwood, Consultant, Nimble Press Michael Jay, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Education, Brainium Technologies, Inc. Scott Lathrop, National Center for Supercomputing Applications Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Glenn E. Meeks, CEO, Meeks Technology Group Nortel Networks Julia Stapelton, New Jersey Department of Education US Department of Energy Mitch Zeisler, K-6 Technology Teacher

This product is based on work sponsored wholly or in part by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract number ED-01-CO-0016. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of OERI, the Department, or any other agency of the U.S. Government. AEL is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.