Rhode Island’s Failing Grade in Education Technology
Another day, another list, another low ranking for Rhode Island. From Education Week‘s “Technology Counts 2008” State Technology Report Card for Rhode Island…
| Access to technology | F |
| Use of technology | D+ |
| Capacity to use technology | D |
| Overall grade | D |
The breakdown of the grade of “F” in the “Access to technology” category is as follows…
| Access to Technology | Rhode Island | U.S. |
| % Students w/access to computers (4th grade) | 88% | 95% |
| % Students w/access to computers (8th grade) | 75% | 83% |
| # Students per instructional computer | 5.0 | 3.8 |
| # Students per high-speed Internet-connected computer | 4.6 | 3.7 |
With Rhode Island’s spending on education consistently reported in the top 10 in the country, shouldn’t we be doing better in a capital intensive area like the above?
Can’t spend the same dollar twice! No money for technology if it’s all tied up in pensions, payroll, health care, unfunded mandates, and so much more.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in addition to the Gore Tax on our phone bills, isn’t there also a state counterpart line item for school technology?
As with the RI gas tax (one of the highest in the country) that is supposed to go for road maintenance, it would appear that it is dumped into the general fund and diverted to patronage, perks, pensions and welfare. Hence the deplorable condition of our roads and bridges.
If a private sector firm did this kind of bait and switch it’d be indicted for consumer fraud.
When the Democrat General Assembly does it it’s considered a badge of honor, another clever scheme to pull off some “revenue enhancement.”
But of course when you’re led by / willingly follow leadership of the Operation Dollar Bill caliber, then this must seem like small potatoes.
Oh, I forgot to mention. I recall the ProJo reporting during the RISDIC days that the General Assembly diverted funds from those “special [charitable] contribution” categories on the state income tax form to the general fund.
Since then I’ve never “donated” to any of those.