Sustainability

In the 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake CSD has incurred net expenditures of approximately $325,000 per year for technology purchases. The district partnered with BOCES through the Northeastern Regional Information Center (NERIC) to use those budgeted funds to acquire roughly $500,000 of instructional technology and infrastructure for students in each of those three years. During the 2015-16 school year, those funds associated with technology purchases have been repurposed for other district priorities in anticipation of being able to address improvements in our instructional technology through the Smart Schools Bond Act. We anticipate repurposing district funds in the same manner during the 2016-17 school year as we continue to utilize the Smart Schools Bond Act to meet our instructional technology needs.

We have been purchasing technology in a measured way over the past several years, and therefore, are on a balanced purchasing cycle. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake intends to resume annual budget allocations (partnering with BOCES/NERIC) in the 2017-18 school year if future projections for state aid and property tax revenue hold to expectations. We anticipate using these relatively large annual budget allocations to maintain and replace older technology, including purchases associated with the Smart Schools Bond Act, for the 2017-18 school year and beyond.