Tux Saves Bucks in Hawaii

As a former educator, I enjoy reading stories about schools using Linux to save money, especially cash-strapped schools. The case of the Enchanted Lake Elementary School in Hawaii is one such example.

Thanks to the efforts of the Hawai’i Open Source Education Foundation (HOSEF), the school was able to install a computer lab full of recycled systems running free software for only $3,000. The expected cost had they gone with new systems and proprietary software? $30,000.

HOSEF obtains used systems from the Air Force, then purchases new hard drives and installs Fedora and OpenOffice.org to get them running. These packages allow the schools to save money and still meet state and national standards set for students.

This is one of the ways the people behind No Child Left Behind and similar legislation got it right — they want students to meet certain goals but do not get overly specific in how those goals are met. For example, they say a student should be able to “handle word processing” or “post information to the web,” not “operate Microsoft Word” or “publish web documents with FrontPage” (which, unfortunately, some schools do).

(Incidentally, the Children’s Internet Protection Act similarly got it right: it says all Internet access must be filtered, but does not say how. So, schools can use projects like Dan’s Guardian rather than costly solutions like Bess.)

The more stories like this get out, the more administrators will be willing to consider open solutions for their students. From what I’ve seen in Illinois, it’s primarily the low-income and poverty-stricken schools who are evaluating Linux and similar solutions. However, it won’t be long before more savvy business managers from larger districts begin to lust for the savings Linux can bring.

Greater usage will help with the next step — convincing textbook publishers to start covering open source software. Once we start seeing textbooks covering OpenOffice.org (or, better yet, covering general word processing in a platform-agnostic manner), we’ll know we’ve made a difference.

If you’d like to become involved in volunteer efforts similar to HOSEF, speak to your local LUG. Chicago-area volunteers may want to check out NPOTechs. Red Hat also maintains a volunteer database as part of Open Source Now.