Hanson Town Meeting Article 25. SCHOOL DISTRICT COMPUTERS FY2016 Capital Request- Warrant Article SCHOOL DISTRICT COMPUTERS FY2016

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1 Background Starting in 2004, Whitman-Hanson designed a new computer refresh program which would replace the district s computers every 4 years. The plan called for the district to lease computers for 4 years. After the 4 year term, we would send the old computers back and create a new 4 year lease with brand new computers. A utility line was created in the budget for these annual lease payments. The identical annual lease payments would give the district cost certainty on a perpetual basis and bring up to date computer technology to all students and staff. The down turn in the economy caused the district to change course on this program. With significant cuts needed to balance the district s budget, the computer refresh program was eliminated in order to prevent additional teachers from being laid off. The computers acquired from that program are the same computers in the classrooms today (2015). For the past 7 years, a line item was added to the district s operating budget to replace the aging computers. The line item was cut every year in order to save teaching positions in the schools from being eliminated. Budget 2016 Fiscal year 2016 is the first year the computer replacement line has not been added to the district s operating budget. Instead of adding it to the district s LEA budget we will be presenting it directly to the town as a warrant item. We are requesting funding from both towns for a refresh of the desktop computers in the district. As part of the computer refresh, the high school s network will also need to be updated in order for the computers or end user devices to be used to their full capacity. The 10 year old network equipment which is the core for all network traffic for the 7 schools is at end-of-life and no longer supported by the vendor. We looked at two different methods to refresh the computers and bring the students and staff a better 21 st century computing experience. The first is the same method that has been used for the past 15 to 20 years, which would remove all desktops currently being used and replace with new desktop computers. The second method is to implement desktop virtualization. After conducting a pilot program this year, virtualization was determined to be the best way to keep us current and on pace with ever-changing technologies, rather than replacing each old computer with a new one. With virtualization, we anticipate a 10 year lifespan while replacing computers one-to-one would be 4-5 years. Virtualization centralizes the individual s hard drive and operating system in the district s data center, creating an on premise cloud network. This enables users to access technology, anytime, anywhere and with any device or platform whether they are at school or at home. The existing school desktops are re-used as thin clients because only the keyboard, mouse and screens are needed. Because individual hard drives are no longer needed, replacement device costs are less than $200. All items under the virtualization project will be covered under a three year contract.

2 Why virtualization? Virtualization will allow students and staff access to the best user experience anytime, anywhere and with any device. Students and staff will have access to their traditional desktop environment which houses their personal files, software packages and . All that is needed is a web browser and internet access. Students can access the same resources at home as they can at school. VMware virtualization is a device flexible operating system. Can be used on any computer, laptop, ipad, Mac, Android, and even iphone. The life span of virtualization is 10 years where as the traditional desktop computer is 4-5 years. The proof of concept that we have undertaken has shown a dramatic decrease in the user s login time from upwards of 5 plus minutes to seconds. This is made possible because virtualization just sends a picture of the desktop. It doesn t actually load the full contents of what the user has on their screen. A traditional desktop environment will load all the files down to the computer each time, causing the extended login time.

3 What are we purchasing? Connectivity Connectivity Storage Servers- Management Servers- Processing Outside of the virtualization software licenses, the majority of the items purchased will be in the data center. Those items include servers, storage and network devices. We will also be purchasing a small number of new physical desktops that will allow us to refresh the areas where virtualization is not optimal. Most of our roughly 1500 desktop computers will be turned into thin clients. We will install a lite version of the operating system onto the existing computer which will allow it to turn on and run the virtualization software. When these computers fail and are in need of replacement, we will replace them with zero clients, a small box with a flash drive in it. This is a low cost item that will be funded out of the operating budget. The devices used in the classroom continue to change and diversify away from the traditional desktop computer. They now include ipads, Chromebooks, tablets and laptops. Virtualization gives us the flexibility to deliver the student s desktop environment to any devices used in the classroom today or in the future.

4 Investment in Virtualization Description Cost Server, Storage & Software $ 649, Virtualization Software & Licensing $ 325, District Core Network Router $ 130, High School Network switches $ 94, Replacement Lab Computers $ 140, Replacement Office/Specialty Computers $ 130, Total $ 1,470, Cost Breakdown between towns Whitman Hanson High School Cost Cost Cost Whitman Middle $ 195, Maquan $ 70, Network $ 225, Conley $ 125, Indian Head $ 105, Computers $ 450, Duval $ 125, Hanson Middle $ 175, Total $ 675, High 58% Assessment $ 391, High 42% Assessment $ 283, Grand Total $ 836, Grand Total $ 633,500.00

5 4/16/2015 WHITMAN - HANSON REGIONAL SCHOOL- HANSON TECHNOLOGY $633,500 SERIAL LOAN NOTES FINANCING SCENARIO HANSON TEMP. SHO RT ANNUAL 0.00% NET % IMPACT IMPACT FISC AL DEBT PRINCIPAL TERM INTERES T DEBT S TATE DEBT NET RESID. $100M YEAR ISSUED O UTSTAND. INTERES T PRINCIPAL 2.00% SERVICE AID SERVICE DEBT S VC TAX RATE HO USE 2015 $633,500 $0 $ $ $0.00 $ $633,500 $0 $ $ $0.00 $ $504,000 $0 $129,500 12, , $0 142, , $0.13 $ $378,000 $0 $126,000 10, , $0 136, , $0.12 $ $252,000 $0 $126,000 7, , $0 133, , $0.12 $ $126,000 $0 $126,000 5, , $0 131, , $0.12 $ $0 $0 $126,000 2, , $0 128, , $0.12 $ $0 $0 $ $ $0.00 $ $0 $0 $ $ $0.00 $ $0 $0 $ $ $0.00 $ $0 $0 $ $ $0.00 $ $0 $0 $ $ $0.00 $0.00 $0 $633,500 37, , $0 671, , $60.76 Hanson Tax rate based on Fiscal 2015 ($1,104,989,890) assessed valuation and median house value of $100,000 Interest rates subject to change based upon market conditions