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Technology plan: wireless refresh for nine buildings, AI pilots and $6.2M tech spending proposed
Summary
District technology staff presented a $6.2 million technology budget with a large BOCES services line, a wireless access-point refresh across nine buildings, and pilots of K-12 AI platforms; the district expects approximately $2.6 million in BOCES aid related to technology spending.
District technology leaders presented a proposed technology budget for 2025-26 that includes replacement of aging wireless access points in nine of 11 buildings, projected BOCES aid, and pilots of artificial-intelligence tools for teachers.
The presenter told the board the proposed technology operating budget for 2025-26 was about $6,200,000 and said a large portion of the total is routed through Dutchess- and other BOCES cooperative buys. The administration estimated about $2,600,000 in BOCES aid for technology spending that will offset the district—s costs in future years.
On infrastructure, the technology presenter said the district must replace wireless access points that will go out of vendor support in 2026 and that the project will touch roughly nine buildings. The presenter called the access points "the things on the wall that give us the Internet access," and said the project is being planned with E-rate funding and BOCES installment/lease options to spread costs.
Pilots and software: The IT team is piloting two K-12-focused AI platforms (Brisk AI and School AI) with teacher tech leaders across grade levels and said early feedback demonstrated potential time savings for lesson planning, standards alignment and formative assessment generation. The presenter said one possible pilot line in the tech budget was set at $50,000 pending final vendor selection and pilot results.
BOCES and ongoing costs: The presentation itemized hardware replacement (Chromebooks and iPads), licensing and BOCES-installed services (networking, web filtering, servers, backups, and telecommunications). The presenter described a BOCES services baseline of roughly $2.4 million that covers multi-year leases, instructional software, and mandatory BOCES fees.
What the board asked: Members asked about repair vs. replacement practices, warranty costs and the district—s ratio of leased vs. owned devices. The technology presenter said the district performs many repairs in-house and purchases limited repair time from BOCES; warranties per-device were usually more expensive than in-house repair, the presenter said. The district plans to rely on a mix of E-rate, BOCES aid and leasing to reduce near-term budget pressure.
The board will consider the technology budget as part of the district—s overall budget deliberations. The administration said final e-rate and BOCES aid estimates will be confirmed in future budget work and that the pilot results for AI platforms will inform any programmatic request going forward.
