You may be aware of the fact that our school district is one of the nation’s industry leaders in the ongoing effort to integrate technology into the learning environment for every student. This is a monumental undertaking for a district of our size – the sixth largest public school system in the United States.

Over the last couple of years, the District has initiated a number of programs associated with technology integration, including the Digital Learning Environment (DLE), the Technology Refresh and Digital Divide programs, Broward Virtual University, B.E.E.P., Broward Virtual School (middle and high) and BECON.The Educational Technology Services, Curriculum & Instruction and HRD departments have trained hundreds of District teachers to effectively employ technology as a primary learning tool in their respective educational environments (classrooms). This training and professional development are essential elements in this effort, because providing the technology is but one step in the process of fully integrating it into every student’s learning experience.

One of the major challenges standing in the way of the overall technology integration effort is money. There simply isn’t enough state funding to acquire all of the equipment and training required to provide one-on-one technology for every student and technology training for every teacher in the District, along with technology training for all of the District employees who need it.

The state legislature recently provided a mechanism whereby local businesses can help support the effort to provide technology equipment for classrooms and training in how to use it for teachers. Each month, businesses that collect sales taxes for the products and services they sell can forego the collection allowance fee they normally retain for calculating these taxes and send it along to a special fund that will be used by school districts throughout the state to purchase technology and technology training.

Local businessman Bob Legg came up with the original concept for funding technology integration through this voluntary funding mechanism, and he shepherded it through the legislature with the support of local elected officials who he was able to get behind the measure.

This initiative – dubbed “Send Your Sales Tax to Schools” – could generate as much as $61 million a year statewide. The amount collected for this effort here in Broward County could amount to between $4 and $6 million a year. Our School Board was the first in the state to pass a measure to use the funding exclusively for technology integration in the classroom and teacher training, which is a prerequisite established by the legislature for obtaining the money.

The District recently held a news conference to inform the public and local businesses of this important state initiative. It is my hope that each of you will ask local companies that you do business with to support this most worthwhile effort on behalf of education and children. In this way, we can all participate in the campaign to provide our students and teachers with the state-of-the-art tools they need to continue the outstanding academic performance the District has experienced over the past several years.

For more information on the “Send Your Sales Tax to Schools” campaign, log onto the District Web site (www.browardschools.com).