The details
HISD Chief Technology Officer Chris Cummings briefed trustees on the district’s effort to obtain at least one computer for every student during the board’s Oct. 21 meeting.
While Cummings said the district has made progress in achieving its goal, he noted additional purchases will need to be made in the future as some current devices reach the end of their life cycle.
Some context
The district’s efforts to obtain at least one computer for every student comes after the Texas Legislature approved House Bill 1481 in May.
According to previous Community Impact reporting, the new law requires school districts to adopt policies prohibiting students from using personal wireless communication devices—including cellphones, tablets, smartwatches and any other devices capable of digital communication or telecommunication—on school property during the school day.
In July, HISD trustees approved a new policy in line with state regulations prohibiting students from using their devices on school property from the moment they enter the building to the final dismissal bell.
During the board’s Aug. 12 meeting, HISD Position 5 trustee Elizabeth Shaw said the bill could have a negative impact because the district had roughly one computer for every two students.
“The 2-to-1 system may have been manageable before,” Shaw said at the August meeting. “It’s not now.”
At the time, HISD Chief Communications Officer Jamie Mount said the district was already in the process of determining how to get the district to a 1-to-1 device policy.
A closer look
Cummings noted HISD currently has roughly three computers for every four students. However, he noted the number of computers per student varies by campus, with 24 of the district’s 45 campuses already at or above the one-computer-per-student ratio.
Cummings added he believed every campus would meet at least an 85% threshold of computers for every student by the end of November.
In addition to devices, Cummings said the district was also in the process of updating the infrastructure needed to ensure all computers are functional in the classroom.
“Without having a robust foundation on the infrastructure side, none of [the device purchases] matter,” Cummings said.
In the last two months, Cummings said 14 elementary campuses have received updates to their technology infrastructure largely using funds included in the district's roughly $775 million bond package approved by voters in May 2022.
Cummings said officials will continue to update technology infrastructure over the next three years, noting infrastructure at the district’s high school campuses is anticipated to be updated in the summer of 2026.
What’s next
While acknowledging the progress that has been made over the last few months, HISD Deputy Superintendent Terry Perkins said the district needs to begin planning for a large wave of additional purchases that will likely be needed beginning in 2029.
In a roughly 15-month span during the COVID-19 pandemic, Perkins said the district purchased around 26,000 devices that will be at or near the end of their life cycle in June 2029.
“That’s a lot of wagons rolling off the cliff in June 2029,” Perkins said. “We need to start thinking about what we’re going to do.”
