What Would $100,000 do for Windham Schools?

With only three days remaining in our Patch "Deck the House" contest, we are still looking for submissions of the best lit houses in Windham.

As noted all month, the grand prize winner will win $100,000 for local schools. All you have to do is submit a photo or video of your house by visiting this link and you are entered to win. 

To put the prize into better perspective, we wanted to list some of the things that $100,000 could do for Windham School District. Many of the items listed below are taken right from the proposed FY 12-13 district budget.

Also, the items listed aren't all taking into account possible discounts for bulk purchases.

LAPTOPS GALORE: When you go into Windham High School nowadays, one of the first things you see is a giant sign saying that the facility is Apple certified. With the population at Windham's newest school growing, 100K could go a long way in helping those technology costs.

In fact, $124,000 is budgeted for next year just in laptop costs. The "Deck the House" prize would pay roughly 80.6 percent of that total.

PAY OFF THE ONE-YEAR COST OF A NEW TEACHER: There is a slew of proposed new teaching positions at several of the schools in the district. Each position will have a fully loaded estimated cost of $89,604. This 100K would pay off one of those new teachers for the year with nearly $11,000 to spare.

PAY OFF THE ONE-YEAR COST OF A CURRENT STAFF MEMBER: Between all of the principals, teachers, secretarys, aids, custodians, special coordinators and other staffers, 100K is enough to cover even the highest salary.

SMART BOARDS: When you walk into the classroom of , she has been given an interactive projector to educate her students.

We wondered what this cost would be to install in several different classrooms at WHS, and found that even the most expensive listed item of a brand called "Smart Board," as listed by a vendor in Nashua, is $6,499. That means that 15 Smart Board X880 with UF65 Projector models could be purchased with room to spare. That total of 15 could also be lessened to 10 with the extra money going to other accessories.

CALCULATORS: Wondering how that 100K could bolster the math programs in town? The cost of a TI-83 Plus calculator is $100 on the WB Mason website when ordering in bulk. With the capacity of Windham High School being 1,000 students, that would be one calculator for every potential student.

PENS AND PENCILS: Sharpie brand pens on the WB Mason website are listed at $2.89 each. That's $34,602 very nice writing utensils for students. Looking for pencils? A nice 12-pack of pre-sharpened Dixon Ticonderogas is listed at $3.29 per dozen. That's 364,742 pencils to get you started for the school year.

The fact is, there are a lot of improvements that can be made right away to the well-being of students in the Windham School District. Although $100,000 might not seem like much, there are plenty of uses. We have just listed a sample.

Comment below on what you think the best usage of $100,000 would be, and be sure to enter our contest.

Remember, 24 finalists get their electric bills paid for December up to $500.