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Show Proposal brings $ 1 .3 million to Davis schools By G. BRETT HART FARMENGTON-Davis County's Coun-ty's proposal to qualify for $1.3 million in technology matching funds flew through two legislative steering committees with flying colors last week. This means that students attending atten-ding Davis schools during the 1990-91 1990-91 school year will find greater emphasis em-phasis placed on math and reading as individual schools scramble to implement new technology- oriented pilot programs in order to qualify for the their piece of Davis' $1.3 million pie. The legislative matching funds will fund Davis County schools with $3 for every $1 it spends on maintenance and implementation of computer-assisted learning programs. pro-grams. The Educational Technology Initiative In-itiative proposal, detailing Davis district's plan to qualify for state educational technology matching funds, was approved by the school board in a meeting held Aug. 7 in Farmington. The Davis proposal came in response to 1990 Utah legislation providing $15 million in matching funds to qualifying districts statewide expressly for education programs assisted by 'micro chip technology. Steve Cornell, Davis district math supervisor and co-chair of Davis Schools Technology Committee, Com-mittee, said that micro chip technology refers to computers, computer accessories and software and may also refer to computer assisted audiovisual systems designed to enhance the learning of math and reading. After the Aug. 7 board meeting, the Davis proposal was then approved ap-proved by two committees, a technical review committee which reviewed the proposal for content and a legislative steering committee. com-mittee. According to George Brown, director di-rector of the state's educational technology section, the technical review committee was impressed by Davis County's proposal and recommended that "the Davis proposal pro-posal be used as a model for other Utah school districts as far as planning plann-ing is concerned. ' However, Brown also said that although the Davis plan was approved ap-proved by both committees without changes, the legislative steering committee did point out two areas of caution. "Because the Davis plan is site-based, site-based, in other words individual schools propose their own plans, purchasing and other goals should be guided by the district in order to avoid problems. 'The steering committee also recommended that the Davis plan address the area of maintenance more carefully," said Brown. According Ac-cording to Brown, legislative intent behind the technology initiative was to make an effort at the state level to involve technology in the educational educa-tional process. Brown said that by giving Utah students a strong education in technology, Utah will appear more attractive to new business. Come 11 felt that Utah legislators approved the plan due to the overwhelming over-whelming support that technology-oriented technology-oriented businesses such as IBM offered to Utah schools. According to Cottrell, these will offer computer hardware and software soft-ware at a substantial savings to Utah schools. Cottrell estimated that although the state had set aside $15 million, business contributions could total as much as $100 million. " Technology vendors included in district proposals are subject to approval ap-proval by the steering committee. Davis School District will have immediate access to the $1.3 million pending approval of the vendors it will include in its programs. pro-grams. The Davis County School District Technology Plan delineates the parameters within which individual in-dividual schools may prepare and submit plans. Once submitted, school plans will then be reviewed and approved j by the District Technology Committee. Com-mittee. The plan also proposes and outlines changes in curriculum emphasis, em-phasis, educational goals, purchasing purchas-ing standards, guidelines for funding fun-ding allocation, etc. In the area of funding allocations, pilot projects are slotted to receive $300,000, and each of the 67 schools in Davis County will receive $4,000. The balance of Davis' $1.3 million will be divided among county schools based on their share of the 55,000 students paying each school $13.30 per student. According Accor-ding to the executive summary of the plan itself, $300,000 of Technology Initiative Funds will be held by the committee to supplement supple-ment exemplary projects. Cottrell stated that an exemplary project would be a project that a school may not have sufficient funds to implement. |