COLUMBUS, Ohio – Here’s a good example of why voters should be wary of school district tax proposals to fund new technology.

They should demand to know who is going to select and install the new technology, and whether those people are qualified to so.

Those questions obviously weren’t asked in the Columbus school district before voters approved an $8.35 million bond issue in 2008 to pay for a classroom-based computer system.

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Five years later the district is asking voters to approve a $175 million bond issue, with more than $1 million set aside to make the new computer system function properly, according to a report from the Columbus Dispatch.

The computer system currently “runs so slowly, it is virtually useless,” the news report said.

As the Dispatch reports it, “The problem started when the district promised during the 2008 levy to replaced 22,000 outdated classroom PCs with scaled-down desktop computers that rely heavily on central office servers.

“But the district combined software from three different vendors that didn’t function well together … The waiting times would grow and computers would crash as the school day went on and the system became more taxed.”

A district document acknowledged the obvious: “With two years of hindsight and experience, we know ours was a flawed design.”

There were probably experts out there who could have predicted the problems before they occurred and saved taxpayers a lot of money.

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When it comes to technology, taxpayers should demand that school officials enlist the help of computer experts from the private sector so the work is done right the first time.

Private businesses cannot afford to waste money by carelessly choosing and installing computer systems that may or may not work properly. They can’t continually go back to taxpayers and ask for more money to fix problems they failed to foresee. They make sure the products they purchase will perform their intended functions with few headaches along the way.

Public officials shouldn’t be shy about asking the private sector for help when it comes to the installation of extremely expensive equipment. That’s a much better option that crawling back to taxpayers and admitting that the initial installation was botched.

Sooner or later taxpayers will run out of patience and start saying “no” to bond requests. At that point the schools will be in serious peril of not being able to offer the type of equipment that modern students require.