The Aiken County School Board tentatively approved a $337,961 increase for the District's Technology Department in the 2015-16 budget at its regular meeting Tuesday.
With the recurring funds, the District will buy computer equipment to meet the state's mandate that all testing should be online in two years.
"This particular item is for technology for online testing," said Dr. Randy Stowe, the District's director for Administrative Services. "The state's expectation is that next year all of our tests have the option of going online and, in two years from now, virtually all of our statewide testing being online."
Currently, schools use computers in business labs and in libraries for online testing, displacing students for several days, Stowe said.
"At one high school, computers were unavailable to students unless they were training for the test or taking the test during the entire month of May," he said. "That's because of the number of tests and the number of students we have."
For taxpayers, online testing is less expensive than paper-and-pencil exams, Stowe said. For educators, online testing raises the level of the questions asked to a higher level.
Now, tests are almost always multiple choice, Stowe said, asking students only to recognize the correct answer.
With online testing, students can generate answers and manipulate data.
Two items, a human resources employee position to help with teacher recruiting and full-time attendance clerks for middle schools, the Board tentatively approved at a special called meeting June 2 brought the operations budget to $176.5 million and the overall budget to $270 million.
"We've been able to address most of our Level 1 priority items in this [budget] cycle and some Level 2 and 3 items as well," said Tray Traxler, the District's comptroller.
The Board will approve the final 2015-16 budget at its meeting June 23.
The Board also approved an additional $25 to be added to the $250 check the state has budgeted to each teacher for supplies, increasing the total to $275. The additional funding will cost the District approximately $41,000.
The state had increased the budget for teachers supplies to $275 a few years ago, but "the money was not in the state budget for next year," Traxler said.
The Board approved the same $25 increase for supplies in the 2014-15 budget.
An Aiken native, Larry Wood is a general assignment reporter.
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