Mooresville schools swing deal for new laptops

Mooresville students are getting new laptop computers.

With leases and warranties on their current laptops nearing expiration, and heavy renewal fees looming, Mooresville Graded School District officials made a swift and unexpected decision early this week to restructure their agreements and trade-in their machinery for new equipment and some significant cost savings.

Supt. Mark Edwards said Tuesday that the current laptop computers and their existing leases will be sold to a Nashville, Tenn. business that plans to refurbish the machines. The MGSD, in turn, will receive new laptops from Apple under four-year leases with four-year warranties attached.
Students could begin receiving their new MacBooks in late April.

Approximately $250,000 in savings will result in the 2010-11 school year from these changes, he said.

"In a year that we're going to have a real tough budget, that's a quarter-million dollars we'll be able to redirect toward hopefully saving jobs," added Edwards.

The savings stems from the anticipated costs from continuing with the current machinery and placing each laptop under an extended one-year warranty, which Edwards said would be necessary. The warranties alone, he mentioned, would cost the district nearly $300 per machine and $800,000 total for the next two years.

"It's just a high price to get a warranty on anything that's older," he said.

Noting that the costs for extending those warranties even just one year were too steep for the MGSD – which already predicts budgetary concerns for next school year – Edwards said the new plan was devised.

The trade-in value for the current laptops are $375 each, the superintendent said. At an annual cost of $848 for each new machine, the net cost for each new laptop will be $473.

When the savings costs of extending the warranties and replacing dying batteries is factored in, Edwards said each laptop sees a revised net cost of $100 over the four-year lease, or $25 per year and 11-cents per day for the 220 days of each school year.

"I think it's a real win," he said, noting that the $250,000 savings that emerges could save five teaching positions that the district may have otherwise cut next year.

"It really has worked out. We're getting new machines, we have a cost savings and all at the same time."

Additionally, the faculty and students – grades four and up – of the MGSD will have better, more efficient laptops in their hands as early as springtime, said Edwards.

Teachers will turn in their current laptops during Spring Break in April, receiving their new laptops at that time. Following the break, student laptops at East Mooresville and Mooresville intermediate schools and Mooresville Middle School will be replaced.

Mooresville High School students, however, will turn in their current laptops at the end of the school year and receive their new computer at the start of the coming school year.

The new laptops feature faster processors, an additional 1GB in RAM – from 1GB to 2GB – and additional hard drive capacity, from 80GB to 250GB. The system's body design will be more durable, said Edwards, and have a seven-hour battery as well as a DVD/CD rewritable drive.

"I think the students and teachers will be excited about getting these new machines," he said.

And MGSD officials hope this "lease restructuring" will also streamline their Digital Conversion laptop leases, which currently expire at various dates due to the staggered implementation of the program.

"By combining multiple leases into one, we have achieve a uniform lease program for effective financial management," states a parent-notice scheduled for distribution to students today.

As the switchover to the new machinery takes place, Edwards said each participating school in the district – EMIS, MIS, MMS and MHS – will have additional information for students and parents, including specific dates for the collection and distribution of laptops.