As I finish my 5th reading of the grant documentation to make sure I am not missing something, I find that a paragraph on the second page sums things up for me:

"As you begin to review and assess your capacity to manage one of the three Pilots, keep in mind that this is merely a first step into a long term, reformation of K12 teaching and learning in your schools, districts, regions, and across the state. This year’s 6th grade will become next years 7th (and so on), which means thinking proactively about how to plan for more computers, more network capacity, more professional development, more support for instructional technology, etc., etc. This Pilot is about thinking ahead." (Oregon_1to1_Grant_Docs.doc)

This program is designed to get bigger.  The support/funding is promised only for the first year, yet the school districts that receive the grant are expected to continue the program and grow it year after year on their own dime.  I believe that this is a very good pilot for Intel and Gateway, but a very bad one for Oregon K-12 education.  We will simply sign up and buy more computers, the districts and ESDs will pay for it, ODE may even make this a state standard, then Intel collects market share and a fat check.  All we are doing is promising to buy a lot of computers.  I'm sure Intel has its heart in the right place, but this feels all wrong.  We should not be focusing on getting as many computers as possible but rather on how to maximize every computer we have (or plan to get).  That is the difference between wasteful and strategic spending.

Micah