Schools have been ditching Google over the past few years. This shift away is especially apparent in Google Classroom but it can also be observed within the ...
This YouTube video is clearly done by someone who’s both never worked in schools, and never been at a level that meant you had to deal with budgets. Schools are purchasing less Chromebooks because funding for them dried up in most cases. During the pandemic a rush of federal and state funds kicked in and companies like CDW literally 10x their CB sales over night. Beyond that a ton of schools invested HEAVILY in technology and apps over the pandemic. Now that 99% of classrooms are back in person that spending has gone towards facility and in classroom tech upgrades which Chromebooks and Google apps aren’t part of. Beyond that a lot of schools during the pandemic had facilities they realized needed upgrading. Any leftover state and federal funds from those have been getting shifted. ESSR funds are a great showcase of this. Early ESSR 1 and 2 funds went towards CBs, Zoom/Meet licenses, and other cloud based solutions. ESSR 3 funds are being shifted towards facility upgrades and repairs. Beyond that schoology/Canvas/Blackboard aren’t really GSuite or even classroom competitors. Hell in most districts I’ve worked in we had two or three of them at the same time. While Google isn’t as talked about right now it’s not like it’s going away. Schools just aren’t reliant on cloud based solutions ATM. I suspect (and am already hearing it from clients) that in 2024 lots of districts will have ballot initiatives to increase taxes for local schools to fix facilities, but new textbooks, and replace existing and aging in classroom tech. Google doesn’t offer any of those.
This YouTube video is clearly done by someone who’s both never worked in schools, and never been at a level that meant you had to deal with budgets. Schools are purchasing less Chromebooks because funding for them dried up in most cases. During the pandemic a rush of federal and state funds kicked in and companies like CDW literally 10x their CB sales over night. Beyond that a ton of schools invested HEAVILY in technology and apps over the pandemic. Now that 99% of classrooms are back in person that spending has gone towards facility and in classroom tech upgrades which Chromebooks and Google apps aren’t part of. Beyond that a lot of schools during the pandemic had facilities they realized needed upgrading. Any leftover state and federal funds from those have been getting shifted. ESSR funds are a great showcase of this. Early ESSR 1 and 2 funds went towards CBs, Zoom/Meet licenses, and other cloud based solutions. ESSR 3 funds are being shifted towards facility upgrades and repairs. Beyond that schoology/Canvas/Blackboard aren’t really GSuite or even classroom competitors. Hell in most districts I’ve worked in we had two or three of them at the same time. While Google isn’t as talked about right now it’s not like it’s going away. Schools just aren’t reliant on cloud based solutions ATM. I suspect (and am already hearing it from clients) that in 2024 lots of districts will have ballot initiatives to increase taxes for local schools to fix facilities, but new textbooks, and replace existing and aging in classroom tech. Google doesn’t offer any of those.