Politics & Government
New Computer Lease Agreement Could Save District $200,000
The committee would sell the old computers for as much as $347,000 to put toward the new lease program.
is running the numbers on a Macbook leasing program that could save the district $200,000 over four years and could bring enough computers into the high school that there would be one per student.
The district's current computers are no longer made by Apple and have fallen out of warranty. “ A program like this would provide all new computers to the district,” said Superintendent Leah Christman.
Two companies so far have submitted bids for the lease plan. California First National Bank, a computer and technology rental agency out of Santa Ana, Calif., offered to lease the computers at a cost of $405,000 over four years at an interest rate of .57%.
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During , Apple Inc. emailed Director of Business Services Jeremy Melber a lease offer of $400,000. Apple originally offered a lease agreement of $420,000 for the lease term.
The committee also received competitive purchase rates from the companies for the 1,500 older computers in the district -- $347,000 from California First and $250,000 to $300,000 from Apple.
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The money from the sale will be used to pay the total for the new computers. “It's a little bit more money but will save us a lot more later on,” Melber said.
The 2,000 computers will be used district-wide and would allow every high school student to have a computer. “We could go to a one-to-one ratio,” Christman said.