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Sun Prairie Area School District staff recommend $526,000 Chromebook purchase with extended warranty
Summary
District technology staff recommended the purchase of Chromebooks and extended warranty coverage totaling $526,000, funded from Fund 46 and Fund 10, citing lower per-unit pricing and lifecycle savings from buying instead of leasing.
Dr. Kurt Mold, technology staff for the Sun Prairie Area School District, told the school board that district technology staff recommends purchasing Chromebooks and associated licensing and warranty coverage at a total cost of $526,000.
The recommendation covers replacement Chromebooks primarily for third- through fifth-grade classroom carts as part of the district's 1-to-1 device initiative; kindergarten and first-grade students use iPads, while students in second through 12th grade use Chromebooks. Mold said the purchase price and warranty make this year's proposal fiscally preferable to past leasing arrangements.
Mold said the district has issued devices to students for 11 years and now retains Chromebooks for four years instead of three to extend device life and reduce replacement frequency. He said the district has shifted from leasing to direct purchasing for four years, which has reduced lease interest costs the district previously paid; Mold cited about $37,000 in prior annual lease payments as a point of comparison.
The recommended procurement would buy the same device model the district has used in recent years. Mold said Trafera submitted a bid about $28 per unit lower than a competing bid from PDS (which the presentation said was recently purchased by Converge). He said this is the first time the district would pay less than $200 per unit for this device.
The recommended contract includes an extended warranty with unlimited accidental damage protection (ADP) for repairs over the warranty term and a 2% theft-and-loss allowance, which Mold explained would allow replacement of up to 40 devices without further documentation on a 2,000-device purchase. He also noted the vendor is compatible with existing devices, district technicians are familiar with the model, and the district plans to maintain a parts closet to speed internal repairs.
Mold said the total $526,000 figure covers Chromebooks, Chrome OS management licenses and the warranty. He said the warranty funding would come from Fund 10 (technology department) and the Chromebook and licensing costs would come from Fund 46, which the district uses as a multiyear device replacement reserve. Mold said the district put its request for proposals earlier than usual because of anticipated tariff-driven price increases and received several competitive bids.
Mold said the district received positive references from similarly sized districts, naming Stevens Point and West Bend. He described the recommendation as exceeding the district's $250,000 board-action threshold and therefore brought forward for board consideration.
No formal motion or vote on the purchase appears in the transcript excerpt. Mold closed by inviting questions from board members and noting staff are available for follow-up.
