(photo by by SqueakyMarmot)

When I describe Sugar on a Stick most people immediately see that it is a cost effiecent solution for student computing. However, they mostly focus on the $5 USB stick vs the cost of a computer or laptop.

Actually if you run the numbers the real cost savings is in Support.  

eSchool News recently did a report of Support Costs on the Rise

"One answer for budget-strapped districts lies in reining in the growing costs of tech-support staffing, the reports says.

“As the number of platforms has multiplied exponentially, an idiosyncratic mix of aged and new hardware is expected to be maintained by school and district tech specialists,” it says. “Many school districts focus on the ‘small’ savings to be realized by reducing software spending (currently 22 percent of tech spending), professional development, and travel, while not looking at the elephant in the room. That elephant is ‘head count’--how many technical staff are employed by the district to maintain the crazy quilt of disparate hardware? How many districts still have multiple versions of Windows and Mac operating systems? How many still have Apple IIs running applications?”

 

School Key not only allows standardization on one platform, it also will allow the refresh of a students operating system without losing data.