Finance committee reviews 2026–27 technology budget, E‑Rate rules and cybersecurity plans

The Lisle CUSD 202 finance committee reviewed the district’s proposed 2026–27 technology budget, focusing on device refresh cycles, E‑Rate‑eligible infrastructure, and cybersecurity measures. Assistant Superintendent Trent Markey outlined student and staff device refresh schedules, procurement strategies, and how E‑Rate funding applies to networking versus cybersecurity.

Markey said the district’s student device program refreshes devices in grades 2, 6 and 9 and that staff devices are now on a five‑year replacement cycle. He told the committee the district delayed first‑grade Chromebooks another year because current devices remain serviceable. “From when we started pricing out these devices in November to when we executed the purchases, there was an increase of about $68,000 in total between the staff and student devices,” Markey said, adding staff adjusted the tentative budget to absorb the change.

On E‑Rate eligibility, Markey explained that E‑Rate covers infrastructure and networking costs but generally excludes cybersecurity and redundancy; for the district’s firewall licensing tier he cited, about 29% of the firewall cost is considered networking (E‑Rate eligible) and roughly 71% is considered cybersecurity (ineligible). He also noted a reimbursement rate of $25.45 on eligible costs. Markey discussed a federal/state pilot that is beginning to include some cybersecurity expenses but said the district was not accepted into that limited pilot.

To reduce costs, Markey said the district uses cooperative purchasing (the Illinois Learning Technology Purchasing Program, Sourcewell) and seeks multiple bids. He described a state initiative providing up to 100 free CrowdStrike licenses for K‑12 districts; Lisle plans to use those licenses, covering about one‑third of endpoints and saving roughly $11,000 that can be reallocated.

Markey reviewed other line items and said the packet’s subscription table omitted roughly $40,000 of annual renewals (examples: SIS plugins, digital signage, library management, SSO/rostering). He reported a net total in the packet of $745,000 versus a tentative full technology budget of about $1,039,000, with approximately 25% of spend not broken out in the packet; he identified the managed service provider as the largest unitemized cost. Anticipated contracts over $25,000 this summer include high‑school staff computers, student Chromebooks, E‑Rate infrastructure projects, high‑school projectors, the student information system and the I‑Ready platform.

Committee members raised questions about specific line items and recommended staff proceed with the listed purchases; the committee agreed to incorporate these items into the FY27 budget next month.