Push Open Source

It use to be hard to get educational administration to understand and embrace Open Source. It has become a lot easier. Examples of the evolution to embrace this movement include: Open Source was a big thread of presentations and workshops at NECC 2006; at PVUSD, we now have in our Technology Plan (developed by a group of Principals, Teachers, Administrtors and Parents), the bold statement, to include and embrace Open Source everywhere possible and appropriate; PVUSD recently switched from a commercial web filtering system to SquidGuard, saving the district some $40,000 a year; the Arizona Department of Education, a historical "Microsoft Shop", has implemented their largest internet based initiative, IDEAL - and it's all Open Source, Sakai. Phoenix Union High School District, utilizes MyDesk. On the list goes.

The point is, Open Source tools and K12 is a match made in heaven. Do the economic math of just one application, say web filtering. Hundreds of schools districts times, say $10,000 a year over 5 years, and, you get the picture. Now look at other solutions - office productivity tools, online survey tools, operating systems, servers, etc.. K12 needs to move on this and Push Open Source.