Developing Effective and Affordable Break/Fix Policies
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1:1 technology initiatives can impose large financial burdens on school districts. Beyond the initial purchase of the laptops school districts must pay to repair broken or lost laptops and other equipment (e.g., chargers). Costs can add up. Often, district technology fees are charged to all students to cover repairs, but some states in the U.S. prohibit this policy.
Additionally, mandatory technology fees may hinder low-income students’ access to technology and create an administrative headache for principals, who must collect fees from parents who may be unable to pay. This report profiles fee-free policies and other strategies administrators can adopt to help cover the costs of laptop repairs while minimizing the financial burden on families.
Consider multiple policy options
Administrators can replace mandatory technology fees with optional insurance plans, fully refundable security deposits, or tiered repair fees to cover laptop repair costs.
Administrators commonly offer optional insurance plans to students and their families to at least partially offset repair costs. Optional insurance programs neither force families to pay a fee to cover damages for all students nor do they place a financial burden on poorer families. Administrators can model their district run optional insurance policy after Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, Park Hill School District, and Salisbury Township School District insurance policies.
A security deposit payment structure ensures districts have the funds to cover potential damages but allows families to recover all their funds if their student does not damage her laptop. Administrators at Klein Independent School District require families to pay a $350 fully refundable security deposit if families do not purchase a $60 insurance plan.
Tiered repair fees (i.e., a repair fee structure in which fees increase after each incident) can encourage students and families to take better care of school issued laptops. Fixed and increasing repair fees do not severely punish students—including low-income students—for their first offense but discourage repeat offenders with dramatically increased repair fees. Administrators at Sweet Home Central School District implemented tiered repair fees for iPad repairs in their district.
Pursue alternative funding sources to district technology fees
Administrators who do not wish to charge families any district technology fees (optional or mandatory) can pursue alternative funding options. Administrators can reallocate funds within the school budget, save funds leftover from budget surpluses, and cut other expenses (e.g., use open source textbooks, send digital report cards). Administrators can also apply to private grants to cover the cost of laptop repairs.
Develop damage mitigation strategies
If students damage their laptops, administrators can structure repair protocols to help prevent another incident. Administrators at St. Lucie Public Schools developed a three-step system to address students who damage laptops multiple times.
The first two steps require students to purchase a laptop safety tool to reduce the likelihood the student will damage the repaired laptop again.
If students damage their laptop a third time, the district revokes the student’s laptop.
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