By Dee Camp
Chronicle staff

     OKANOGAN - Voters will decide Feb. 9 on a two-year technology levy request.
     The district is seeking $271,389 per year for collection in 2011 and 2012. A simple majority is needed for passage.
     The estimated levy rate is 98 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The owner of property valued at $100,000 would pay $98.
     Superintendent Richard Johnson said the Okanogan County Assessor's Office figures the average single-family home in the district is valued at $85,500.
     "Employers expect employees to come to them already knowing how to successfully operate the technology in their agencies, public and private," Johnson said. "Technology is more than hardware and software. It is about jobs and security."
     While the state recognizes technology's importance in education and often requires it, legislators did not include technology when defining Basic education, according to a district fact sheet. Each district must produce its own revenue to fund a technology program.
     In the past, Okanogan has funded its technology program through grants and by spreading revenue among as many programs as possible, including technology. But federal and state grants are drying up, there is rarely any extra revenue that can be applied toward a technology program and state funding has been slashed.
     The district's computers are six to 10 years old. Johnson said 47 computers have become obsolete over the past two years, meaning they cannot be repaired.
     Of the 401 student and staff computers in use, 51 cannot run Windows 2000, which is three operating systems behind the present technology.
     "This means these computers are incompatible with current software programs," Johnson said.
     Students use computers to write research papers, make presentations, run computerized math and science programs, design spreadsheets and flow charts, and create other projects. The staff uses computers for a variety of tasks, including grading and attendance.
     The district would use the money for technology support staff, who maintain and repair computers, run computer labs, maintain phone systems, write grants and train staff; contracted support services (hardware and software purchases and computer support) through the North Central Educational Service District; purchase and upgrade computers.