In the vanguard for Linux in K12: of all places, INDIANA...

[Jon 'maddog' Hall]

Ed,

On Thu, 2007-03-01 at 17:08 -0500, Ed Lawson wrote:
> What makes this different from most stores about FOSS in schools is that
> the program was developed at the state level and promoted at the state
> level in order to address a common need for
> functional/inexpensive computer access in K12 schools. Very
> different from the situation in which a few early adoptors have to
> prove the validity if not even the acceptability of various FOSS
> solutions at the local level with essentially no support from state
> authorities and into the teeth of assumptions at all levels of the
> that presume a different approach.  
> 
> In other words, in Indiana you have leadership at the state level
> providing a blessing for and a program designed to use FOSS in the K12
> setting.  So far in NH we have a few local people doing very neat
> things, but I suspect it is a grind to get FOSS utilized heavily since
> it has to be done separately in each SAU or school district because
> there is no state umbrella to provide cover for something new and
> different.

Might this also be due to the fact that a lot of funding of education is
done more (but not exclusively) with state funds in other states rather
that local funds?  The funding of schools is financed at least somewhat
by state taxes (sales and income) while New Hampshires are funded more
by local (town and city) funding?  Perhaps this is what you were
saying....

md