75 percent of Louisiana schools meeting technology minimums

John White, Louisiana’s superintendent of education, said three out of four public schools in the state meet the state’s minimum technology standard of one computer for every seven students.

White acknowledged the state is a long way from providing every student with his or her own computer — as some other school districts around the country have done — but the 7-1 ratio is sufficient to handle online standardized testing because of a staggered testing schedule.

The comments come as an update to a briefing he gave the House and Senate committee on recent computer gains, according to nonprofit Education News.

Twenty-two school districts are still working on the goal, including some of the state’s largest districts including Central, Lafayette, Orleans, Livingston, West Baton Rouge, and Jefferson. White says the schools still working on the issue represent both elementary and high schools.

Education Week reports superintendents in some districts say they are having a hard time finding money for computers.

State officials are working to help districts through partnerships with technology vendors that trim costs and through an assistance initiative called E-Rate, a federal program that provides discounts on network bandwidth, which is critical to the infrastructure needed for teaching and testing.

Since 2011, districts have upgraded or purchased 129,000 desktops, laptops and tablets.

The state Department of Education releases technology updates every six months, and the report included district snapshots and school-by-school analysis. It found 906 of 1,180- schools met the 7-1 ratio of students to computers, and 35 of 47 that meet the state minimum exceed the ratio.