Budgets

[Optimus_Primal]

My school has 1200 students with around 110 teachers. We have 24 computer rooms (including 2 mac suites for music, the library, the sixth form study room), each room has on average 24 computers most non computers rooms have 4 computers for students to use in lessons.

 

We have 1120 computers across the site predominantly RM One's on either Core 2 Duo or i13 processors.

 

We pay for licenses for things such as finance software, MIS and LGFL costs. We have just signed for Biostore to come in to replace Cunninghams in the canteen which is another £18k.

 

I am curious about how much money other IT departments are allocated for the yearly budget I get £90K. At the moment it seems like any big bill that is anything to do with touching a computer comes from my budget, and I am trying to plan the development works.

 

Do you pay for improvement works out of your budgets or do you have the approach the Head/Principal for additional capital?

Edited February 15, 2020 by Optimus_Primal

[Ditto]

I don't have figures for you, but I guess it's up to the school business manager and the accountants as to how the assign cost codes and track expenditure. The danger of piling it all under 'IT department' is that it is a corruption of true cost centres. Also, something like the Biostore expense can impact completely unrelated teaching areas as the 'pot' is spent. It's also poor practice not separating out sizeable infrastructure/one off high cost project costs from annual rolling expenditure. I do feel it would be better that software cost for various departments should be tracked against those departments. So your Biostore expense - that should be facilities or services. Expensive music software for iMacs should be down to Music department budget. iMacs more arguable as hardware, but possible those too, but hardware often would be out of an IT budget. At my sons school (primary) where I'm the Computing link governor have recently spent £60k (all via parental contribution) on interactive whiteboards. That's being reported as expenditure on 'Computing'. It's just a mis-representation - the IWBs are being used in all classrooms for all subjects.

 

That's aside, 24 dedicated computer rooms seems high - what utilisation rate are they being used at? With Core 2 Duo's are you planning for upgrades in the near future. Perhaps as a different model, you might want to look at more devices in the classroom (Chromebook, Windows tablets or iPads - whichever is the school'spreference) and free up those classrooms. This is something my governance school and other schools in the MAT are looking at. For my sons school, 2 form entry primary, we are considering this for our single IT room and using the room for targeted intervention. Trying to build that space would be very expensive. The cost of setting up devices in the classroom, assuming a 3 to 5 year life expectancy is much less.

[3s-gtech]

I have a comparable number of PCs, but my budget is a third of yours. It’s not sustainable, especially when that includes MS licensing.

[Optimus_Primal]

I don't have figures for you, but I guess it's up to the school business manager and the accountants as to how the assign cost codes and track expenditure. The danger of piling it all under 'IT department' is that it is a corruption of true cost centres. Also, something like the Biostore expense can impact completely unrelated teaching areas as the 'pot' is spent. It's also poor practice not separating out sizeable infrastructure/one off high cost project costs from annual rolling expenditure. I do feel it would be better that software cost for various departments should be tracked against those departments. So your Biostore expense - that should be facilities or services. Expensive music software for iMacs should be down to Music department budget. iMacs more arguable as hardware, but possible those too, but hardware often would be out of an IT budget. At my sons school (primary) where I'm the Computing link governor have recently spent £60k (all via parental contribution) on interactive whiteboards. That's being reported as expenditure on 'Computing'. It's just a mis-representation - the IWBs are being used in all classrooms for all subjects.

 

That's aside, 24 dedicated computer rooms seems high - what utilisation rate are they being used at? With Core 2 Duo's are you planning for upgrades in the near future. Perhaps as a different model, you might want to look at more devices in the classroom (Chromebook, Windows tablets or iPads - whichever is the school'spreference) and free up those classrooms. This is something my governance school and other schools in the MAT are looking at. For my sons school, 2 form entry primary, we are considering this for our single IT room and using the room for targeted intervention. Trying to build that space would be very expensive. The cost of setting up devices in the classroom, assuming a 3 to 5 year life expectancy is much less.

 

 

I regularly go through the ledger and have a spreadsheet where I have categorized the spending. My plan is so that I can point out the true nature of the IT department expenditure for a academic year. We have a separate budget for printing, but as you said I do not think it should all come out of my budget.

 

I am having to plan for the eventual replacements of our IWBs as they are bound to fail soon as I have had a few close calls this year with them giving up.

 

The utilization is relatively high, every department has 1 or two rooms. My own department has 8 computer rooms each one is allocated to a teacher, 4 of us share classrooms. Staff are still fighting over the few frees those rooms have. We run a lot of vocational courses in the 6th Form which means they need computer rooms, staff take KS3 or KS4 groups to the rooms either their departmental computer rooms or what ever is available. Portable devices in our school would not be appropriate in our setting.

 

The school was rebuilt in 2012, it has the space, however it was kitted out with too much IT, and now it is crumbling. I am hoping I can maybe use them in a buyback. We are in the process of replacing the staff computers, I will redistribute the old staff machines and flush out the duos that way.

 

We are finally setting up the Windows 10 environment this week, while I have another tech replacing some HDDs to SSDs on i3 machines.

 

I have a lot of juggling to do with limited human resource to implement the changes.

[Optimus_Primal]

I have a comparable number of PCs, but my budget is a third of yours. It’s not sustainable, especially when that includes MS licensing.

 

Jesus that's tough. What kind of spec are you running?

 

Everything I have is from 2008 or 2012 bar 40 HP DeskPro which were bought 2 years ago.

 

The last guy said he had replaced the HDDs with SSDs, I opened up 30 machines in the study space yesterday to only find HDDs. No wonder the 6th form have been complaining about the computers. More money to spend!

[mrbios]

Similar size in terms of student and staff numbers here. we have roughly 750 devices (PCs, laptops, chromebooks and a few terminals) Oldest devices are from 2010-11.

 

Outside of physical devices we pay for the leased line and student printing. Things like MIS, finance software, cashless catering etc. come from other central school budgets.

 

We used to get £72k for our hardware/servers/networking and so on costs. This year it has been reduced to £60k. Then another pot of £14-16k for licensing. The licensing pot pays for MSVL, veeam, vmware, lastpass and more, and generally doesn't have any extra in it anymore, it's just the amount we need to pay for our yearly stuff.

 

I think £72k was about right for doing all the works we need to do on a yearly basis to keep the end user devices within a 10 year maximum age limit. £60k is going to be a real struggle and will eventually mean a lot of very old kit being made to stagger along.

 

£72k used to not be enough, but in the last 5 years we've more than halved both the leased line and print costs we pay for (From £12,700 for a leased line 5 years ago, to £6,800 this year. Then from £15,500 for printing to £3100 this year) then £72k was perfect, i had enough to do everything i needed to in a year. Now that it's been reduced to £60k, I'm back to thinking it's going to be a bit of a struggle again. Can't win.

[Optimus_Primal]

Similar size in terms of student and staff numbers here. we have roughly 750 devices (PCs, laptops, chromebooks and a few terminals) Oldest devices are from 2010-11.

 

Outside of physical devices we pay for the leased line and student printing. Things like MIS, finance software, cashless catering etc. come from other central school budgets.

 

We used to get £72k for our hardware/servers/networking and so on costs. This year it has been reduced to £60k. Then another pot of £14-16k for licensing. The licensing pot pays for MSVL, veeam, vmware, lastpass and more, and generally doesn't have any extra in it anymore, it's just the amount we need to pay for our yearly stuff.

 

I think £72k was about right for doing all the works we need to do on a yearly basis to keep the end user devices within a 10 year maximum age limit. £60k is going to be a real struggle and will eventually mean a lot of very old kit being made to stagger along.

 

£72k used to not be enough, but in the last 5 years we've more than halved both the leased line and print costs we pay for (From £12,700 for a leased line 5 years ago, to £6,800 this year. Then from £15,500 for printing to £3100 this year) then £72k was perfect, i had enough to do everything i needed to in a year. Now that it's been reduced to £60k, I'm back to thinking it's going to be a bit of a struggle again. Can't win.

 

 

I hear you. Who do you use for the leased line? We are a London school and use LGFL. They do our user creation, emails and AD. If I had a network manager I would plan to bring all of it in house as it would allow us control over everything.

 

I think I will have to pay and upgrade some of the computer rooms with RAM and SSDs as a short term fix and go cap in hand to get refurbs for a computer room to help start the students side refresh.

 

When I take away costs such as licensing and things that I should not be paying for I would be surprised if I actually spent £10k on IT. As of yesterday I think I had £45k left.

[3s-gtech]

Jesus that's tough. What kind of spec are you running?

 

 

Mostly Core 2, some later Core stuff from Sandybridge to a few Skylake. Macs are 2014 and late 2009.

 

They survive because they all have SSDs (definitely, I did it!) and a minimum of 4GB of RAM (mostly 8GB). It’s surprising how well these all cope with Windows 10 and Office 2016.

 

Our servers are powerful and the infrastructure is quick which helps.

 

Only so much life left in 11 year old PCs though.

[Optimus_Primal]

Mostly Core 2, some later Core stuff from Sandybridge to a few Skylake. Macs are 2014 and late 2009.

 

They survive because they all have SSDs (definitely, I did it!) and a minimum of 4GB of RAM (mostly 8GB). It’s surprising how well these all cope with Windows 10 and Office 2016.

 

Our servers are powerful and the infrastructure is quick which helps.

 

Only so much life left in 11 year old PCs though.

 

 

 

Indeed, RAM and SSDs are next on the PCs. Our servers are having a extra RAM and storage added this week.

 

I think a stumbling block for speed will be my switches are 100Mbit.

 

You give me hope that I can still keep running for at least another 2 years .

[3s-gtech]

Yeah our switches are 1Gb, and shortly will be going 10Gb backbone (for some unknown reason, mandated by WG scheme funding but they’re paying). Old switches will be used for CCTV.

 

I’m hoping there’s some funding left in this government scheme for desktops, as much of what they’re targeting we had already sorted.

[Optimus_Primal]

What scheme is it?

[3s-gtech]

https://edtechnology.co.uk/Article/welsh-government-pledges-50m-to-expand-hwb-edtech-programme/ Edited February 15, 2020 by 3s-gtech
Duff link

[Ditto]

Indeed, RAM and SSDs are next on the PCs. Our servers are having a extra RAM and storage added this week.

 

I think a stumbling block for speed will be my switches are 100Mbit.

 

You give me hope that I can still keep running for at least another 2 years .

SSD's provide the best return on investment - I've seen it done several times to keep old kit off life-support. Prices are competitive at the moment. RAM upgrade from 2GB -> 4GB is essential and 4GB -> 8GB desirable. For SSD's I'd buy new, but for RAM, if you can source re-used, it can bring cost down nicely. Not much you can do about the switches though.

[snagrat]

Ultimately everyone budget will be different depending on what priority the school has.

 

I work in many schools and I see Trusts who simply will not buy a £300 projector as they apparently can not afford it.

Yet on the other scale I work in a Primary with 420 pupils who will spend over £200k per year on IT.

[mrbios]

I hear you. Who do you use for the leased line? We are a London school and use LGFL. They do our user creation, emails and AD. If I had a network manager I would plan to bring all of it in house as it would allow us control over everything.

 

I think I will have to pay and upgrade some of the computer rooms with RAM and SSDs as a short term fix and go cap in hand to get refurbs for a computer room to help start the students side refresh.

 

When I take away costs such as licensing and things that I should not be paying for I would be surprised if I actually spent £10k on IT. As of yesterday I think I had £45k left.

 

We're using Novatech (their ISP arm is called Coconnect now) for our leased line. £7,800pa for a 1Gb/1Gb leased line we'll be upgrading too next financial year (though they did also say the price may drop by/in April)

 

10 years ago we were with SWGfL paying £16,000pa for 100/100, then we moved to another ISP on £12,600pa again 100/100, then ended up here on 300/300 for £6,800. I've got a local company looking into SD-WAN for us but I'm not sure how viable it is where we are.

[dobbyit]

I'm primary, 500 kids, we have a budget of 5k a year for licenses, maintainace ,hardware. Gone though what I need in budget going of last years spend and license comes to 15k alone

[Ditto]

What was last years budget? What is the reaction of the business manager and head when you pint this out? I wonder what your governing body would make of this.

[sidewinder]

I put in a forecast including all annual commitments + upgrades/maintenance/nice to haves + a contigency and generally get all that granted - some things I will be asked to defer until the next year or not to go ahead with for various reasons, but if it is something I can argue the case for (infrastructure, backups, anything vital) I will generally get the money.

 

I'm incredibly lucky that I work in an independent school that really does budget for IT, and takes it seriously. We're relatively small, and only have a few computer suites, but have a lot of mobile devices, and separate geographical sites which does increase costs. I really feel for many on here being asked to do everything for virtually nothing

[caffrey]

My budget is terrible, so terrible in fact I won't say what it is. What they have done is force me down a cyclic maintenance route which is not how I work or like to work, they have done this to forecast the yearly IT spend. I understand it but it's frustrating and stops me from innovating.

[Roberto]

Given the general squeeze on education spending/investment none of this is a surprise even if it remains a disappointment. When I left education my college was being forced to tighten up on all spending, not just IT. Luckily the campus is a fairly new build so it probably won’t fall down soon, but the lack of investment will tell in the end.

 

Do your SLTs understand just how underfunded you are, and that compromises are already being made just to keep things turning already? For me that’s important. Managing expectations against the level of funding you have is very important. Make it clear that the current budget isn’t sustainable, that equipment is already well on is last legs.

[Disease]

1200 Pupils - 150 Staff

 

550 Computers.

 

General Maintenance Budget (spare etc) - £16,000

Ink - £13,000

Licensing - £16,000

 

Any improvements, new units - servers upgrades to suites etc are requested separately and generally approved.

We normally buy i5 units from ICT direct, great value kit.

[PotNoodleTech]

800 pupils, 90 staff, 1000 end user devices (550 PCs, 350 chromebooks, 100 android/ipads)

 

18k/year for new kit and software.

 

We have had some other cash injections over the last couple of years but it is still not enough to stand a chance of keeping up to date. Only buy refurbished PCs and Servers now.

[localzuk]

I run a 5 year rolling budget, based on what we can roughly afford and what will need replacing. My budget covers the whole Trust. So, 1600 children across 6 schools, and then 2 independent nurseries and 2 pre-schools that are part of their first schools. The budget covers all connectivity, licensing, hardware etc... It doesn't include staffing, and it doesn't include finance licensing or curriculum software licensing. It varies year to year, depending on need - this year is around £140k. Last year was £185k. Next year's forecast is £225k.

 

One thing to take into account is that we are in a very expensive area for connectivity. A 1Gbit internet leased line is £14.5k here, so some costs are higher than other schools/Trusts may see. I now buy things "Trust-wide" where appropriate, and this year's budget has £79k of trust-wide spending in it - MS licensing, internet connectivity, firewall/filtering renewal, backups, MDM renewal, phone software license maintenance etc...