Voters in Kalispell school districts will be asked to approve a technology tax levy in a May mail-out ballot election.

The high school and elementary district technology levy would extend over a 10-year period beginning in the 2014-15 school year. The board of trustees has yet to set a levy amount, but discussed $1 million to $1.2 million annually.

A technology levy would be used to purchase, rent, repair and maintain equipment and provide technical training for school district personnel.

The high school district has been without a technology levy for the last three years and there is one year left on the elementary district’s technology levy.

The decision comes after Rich Lawrence, Kalispell Public Schools Information Technology Director, presented the board with a thorough equipment and infrastructure inventory. He also presented a five-year rotation plan to replace aging equipment.

“Usually industry standard states a PC and a Mac, in a curriculum setting, five years is the limit and the way technology is changing today, that is the truth,” Lawrence said.

The district currently has roughly 2,400 technology components (including projection devices, network computers, mobile devices and desktop computers) that are more than five years old.

If a technology levy is approved by voters, it would free up general-fund money to hire at least two more information technology personnel.

“Regardless of what your decision is, one thing I need to say for all the teachers that are here and site admins, I think whether we run a levy or not, whether we pass a levy or not, the worst thing that we could do — we would do a huge injustice to our students and our teachers to even bring another 100 devices into our district,” Lawrence said.

“We can hardly support what we have right now and so this question about support and labor is a big one tied to this levy discussion.”

Outreach Coordinator Mike Kofford presented a staff survey on satisfaction with current technology and support.

“Eight days ago I sent out an electronic survey and received 189 responses, about 98.32 percent are in support” of a technology levy, Kofford said.

Repeated concerns cited by staff included aging computers, lack of bandwidth and training along with limited access to computer labs.

Kofford related one teacher’s story that students are learning on new software at home and “going backwards” in school by using outdated software.

Superintendent Darlene Schottle said the levy amount will likely be set at a March 25 special board meeting.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].