Dive Brief:

• According to a new survey from the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), 57% of K-12 IT leaders believe data security has become more important over the past year. 
• The survey also found that budget constraints are the No. 1 challenge for IT leaders in schools, with 70% of those surveyed saying that their budgets have flatlined or decreased. 
• This is the third year the survey, created through a partnership with MDR and funded by SchoolDude, has been published.

Dive Insight:

While President Obama speaks often about his ConnectEd Initiative, and the E-Rate program gives out funds to subsidize broadband and WiFi costs for schools, the reality is that if schools are still cash-strapped, it's going to be very difficult to get technology into classrooms. The fact that 70% of tech budgets have declined or flatlined sounds troubling, though the funds could be decreasing because the bulk of costly tech hardware was purchased in previous years and administrators now don't believe there needs to be as much allocated to that department.

The survey also found that 88% of IT leaders are white in school systems that are increasingly "majority minority." This raises questions about diversity, as studies have shown students learn best when their educators are the same race as them. This issue also reminds us of how few minority students are getting the necessary computer science and tech education they need in their formative years to grow up and become IT leaders themselves. That cycle is troubling and makes one think harder about the current lack of diversity in school IT leaders.