Cutting Technology Costs with Refurbished Computers

Many district administrators are finding that they can save money on computers by buying preowned ones instead of new ones. The practice has other benefits as well: It allows districts to give more computers to more students who need them, and it also promotes good environmental practices by keeping the machines out of landfills, where they otherwise might wind up.

The preowned computers, which some vendors market as “prematurely retired,” are top-tier models that corporations and other organizations, as well as individuals, want to dispose of because they no longer need them or are replacing them with newer machines. The preowned models have been refurbished so that they can continue to provide basic capabilities, including word processing, e-mail and Internet access. Some districts get refurbished computers from companies such as CDI, while others get them from nonprofit organizations dedicated to educational or environmental improvement, such as Computer Recycling Center (CRC) or PC Rebuilders & Recyclers (PCRR), which has a “Computers for Schools” program in which students can learn about computers and then keep them.
Some administrators think refurbished models are all most students need anyway. “Let’s face it—this is the way to go,” says Dennis Crowe, director of technology in the Gorham (Maine) School Department. “Most of the time in K12 education, you don’t need the best of the best. You don’t need the latest and greatest processor of all time. You need a good, solid, workhorse machine that will do 95 percent of what you have to do, and these machines are tremendous for those functions and at a price that saves an immense amount of money.”

Crowe’s Maine district is a member of the New England International Society for Technology in Education (NEISTE), which includes any New England district that wants to join. Many districts in the region are signing up to take advantage of an arrangement NEISTE has worked out with Toronto-based CDI, which is among the largest distributors of refurbished, brand-name computers in North America.
Districts can get brand-name computers—IBM/Lenovo, HP or Dell—at prices that average below $250 for a PC and below $400 for a notebook. “They can sometimes get two or three computers from us for the price of a new one of the same model,” says Saar Pikar, CDI ’s general manager. Refurbished computers come with three- to five-year warranties, compared to the one- to three-year warranties that come with most new ones.
Norm Chapman, a former computer and technology coordinator for the Narragansett (R.I.) Public Schools and now executive director of the Rhode Island Society of Technology Education (RISTE), brokered NEISTE’s contract with CDI last year after visiting the company in 2008. “It was a fascinating experience, observing the process of retrofitting upwards of 1,000 computers a day,” he says. “I was impressed with the care and attention everybody gave to ensure quality of service and customer satisfaction.”
Last October, CDI sponsored a “Free Technology Waste Disposal Day” in conjunction with RISTE to give all public districts in the state, as well as private schools, a way to get rid of computers they no longer needed. CDI gave a free notebook computer to the Northern Rhode Island Cooperative (NRIC), a public entity that provides special education primarily to its member districts in the state, which turned in more than 5,000 pounds, the heaviest load of recycled equipment.
CDI planned to break down the 15,000 pounds of technology waste that were turned in, then recycle or reuse the parts, resulting in what it said would be a “close to 0 percent” landfill rate.

Regional and state organizations that include districts in other parts of the country have similar arrangements with CDI. Through The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) and the Texas-Arkansas Purchasing System (TAPS), operating jointly as TIPS/TAPS, districts and schools can buy refurbished brand-name computers from CDI at discount prices that TIPS/ TAPS, acting as a purchasing agent, negotiated with the company. In addition to Texas and Arkansas, the program is open to all districts and schools in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. Private schools, colleges and universities, cities and counties, and other government entities in those states also can participate.
While saving money, districts that buy used computers from CDI and other vendors through TIPS/TAPS also save time, because “they don’t have to write specs for what they need and put out bids and then review the proposals,” says Kim Thompson, who coordinates the cooperative for TIPS. “All that has already been done for them. All they have to do is contact the vendor and tell them what they want through the contract. Then they send their purchase order to the vendor and three or four days later, they have their computers.”

Secondhand computers are not the only preowned learning tools that districts are buying to save money. Many also are buying refurbished textbooks. In Arizona, state lawmakers are looking to cut $133 million from K12 public schools this month, while already facing a huge shortfall in the current state budget, according to Public News Service.

The Nebraska Council of School Administrators also has partnered with CDI to provide low-cost refurbished computers to districts in the state. In addition to saving money, “we’re trying to help our schools launch one-to-one initiatives if possible,” says Michael Dulaney, the council’s executive director. “When you think of every student having a computer, you think that’s basically for larger districts. But small districts with tight budgets also are looking at it. That would be a good thing here, especially for rural Nebraska.

Districts in other states that buy refurbished computers from CDI and other vendors say the arrangements work well, not just for the money saved but also for the extended warranties they get with the machines. Bruno Sestito, director of technology in the Louisa County (Va.) Public Schools, says that with CDI, if something goes wrong with a computer, they ship it back and CDI ships another one, usually within days. “Or they ship parts and we install them ourselves,” he adds, which allows the district to save money by not having to pay an outside technician to do it. The district has saved about $65,000 by acquiring more than 300 refurbished computers since 2006, Sestito reports.
Using secondhand computers, the district has achieved a two-to-one ratio of students to PCs, mostly in elementary grades, Sestito says. The equipment is “more than adequate for what our students and teachers are doing,” he adds.

 

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