Settlement to provide tech funds for Fallbrook schools

By: TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer | Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:43 PM PDT ∞

FALLBROOK ---- A settlement involving software giant Microsoft Corp. is expected to provide several hundred thousand dollars for schools in Fallbrook to buy technology over the next several years, officials said Thursday.

The money is left over from a $1.1 billion settlement reached in 2003 between Microsoft and plaintiffs in a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the company.

Six schools in the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District will share about $208,000 worth of technology vouchers under the settlement. The Fallbrook Union High School District expects to get about $167,000 in those vouchers, with $147,000 worth going to Fallbrook High School.

Fallbrook education officials said the vouchers come with restrictions on what they may be used to buy: half can be used to buy hardware such as computers, printers and networking equipment, and half must be spent on software.

Still, the money is welcome at a time when schools all over the state are struggling to keep up with changes in technology, officials said.

"It's a definite shot in the arm, it'll help," said Frank Azevedo, director of technology for the high school district. "We have a lot of teachers who are doing excellent work in integrating technology into their curriculum. I'm hoping that this money will help us keep the technology relevant for our students."

The $1.1 billion settlement resulted from a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco County, alleging that Microsoft violated antitrust laws and overcharged California consumers for some of its software between 1995 and 2001.

On June 16, 2003, under California Superior Court Judge Paul Alvarado, Microsoft reached a settlement with the plaintiffs in the suit.

Individual consumers were given the opportunity in 2004 to apply for small vouchers as part of the settlement. Any money left unclaimed was turned over to California's schools, which in September became eligible to apply for vouchers through the California Department of Education if at least 40 percent of their students qualify as being from low-income families.

That eligibility is determined by how many students at a given campus are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program.

Statewide, officials expect between $400 million and $600 million in vouchers to be distributed to schools for technology as a result of the case, according to a July 26 memo from California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

Azevedo, the technology director at Fallbrook High, said that he and a teacher will be putting together an application next week for the $167,000 in vouchers to which the high school district is entitled.

When they receive the vouchers, districts have six years to use them, Azevedo said.

"We have to fund these purchases, then we get reimbursed by the court administrator by way of these vouchers," he said.

"We do have quite a few computers in the district that need to be replaced ---- about 180 devices are coming up on six years old, so there's a high priority to get those replaced," he said.

Jim Whitlock, an assistant superintendent with the elementary school district, said that while the process of securing and using the vouchers is a bit complicated, the settlement will benefit the town's elementary schools nonetheless.

"That's a good injection of money for technology, and we're certainly glad to receive it," said Whitlock, adding that the district's technology committee will be deciding how to earmark the money.

"We want to make sure that it aligns with our technology plan, and gives us enough flexibility that, three or four years out, we could be using these vouchers for things that we really need," Whitlock said.

-- Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 731-5799 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.

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