Management

TCEA 2025: Could Leasing Help Schools Meet Budget Challenges?

With federal funds drying up and technology needs growing, K–12 leaders explore alternate funding strategies.

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Taashi Rowe is the managing editor for EdTech: Focus on K-12 magazine.

For the three K–12 technology panelists at the 2025 TCEA Convention & Exposition session in Austin, Texas, future proofing education is not about buying the latest, shiny piece of educational technology. It’s about making sure that students and teachers have what they need to prepare them to thrive in the 21st century. And one way to ensure that is to lease technologies instead of buying them.

K–12 budgets across the nation continue to shrink as support from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund comes to an end, so a conversation about ed tech funding is timely.

Colleen O'Donnell, a senior vice president focused on state, local and education at Insight Financial Services, led a panel discussion about future proofing ed tech through budget management and strategic planning in K–12. Joining her were Lacey Gosch, assistant superintendent of support services at Judson Independent School District; Cassandra Salinas, technology director at Lockhart Independent School District; and Amber Teamann, director of technology and innovation at Crandall Independent School District.

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The IT leaders shared the challenges of maximizing budgets while integrating emerging technologies and ensuring that students and teachers have access to secure, reliable devices.

Procuring Modern Ed Tech in an Era of Expanding Technology Needs

“If we want to produce 21st-century learners, we can’t do that with dirty, old and broken technology,” Teamann said.

To equitably provide students and educators with the technologies they need, panelists said IT leaders must address the very real constraints of budgets and staffing. Additionally, they explained that purchasing technology means more than the one-time sticker price of the original items, it also includes the total cost of ownership over the lifecycle of these technologies.

“When you start looking at things like break/fix alone,” Gosch began. “If I'm trying to do that in-house — and I've done it — and the only way I can keep up with it is for us to add 10, 15 or 20 more employees, you start to add that cost in there. Now I have to buy parts. Now I have to have a place to put them. The costs start to add up.”

DIG DEEPER: Learn why more schools are modernizing their approach to procurement.

Salinas added, “These days it’s not enough to be one-to-one. You almost need to be two-to-one or three-to-one because you have to have hot swaps ready for loaners; extra Chromebooks for testing; or spares for parents, registration or other events.”

Salinas said that when she was helping to design a new elementary school, she had to ensure that the technology matched a more modern approach to learning. She added that purchasing and managing devices in addition to addressing school safety and cybersecurity technologies would not have been possible without leasing.

“I wanted to focus on ensuring mobility,” she said. “For me, thinking through future proofing, it was important not to tie students to the classroom and tables, but be flexible about where they're learning.”

Insight Financial Service’s Kyle Singer, Jake Howard and Collen O’Donnell connect with K–12 leaders ahead of the TCEA future proofing session.

How Leasing Could Help Schools Sustain Acquisition On Smaller Budgets

After being forced to cut $1 million from her department budget, Gosch had some serious questions.

“How do we manage the resources that we have? How do we plan for the next innovation that comes along?” she remembered asking. “I probably spend 90% of my time looking at budgets and identifying different ways to save a dollar so I can pay for different equipment.”

She recalled considering a student device refresh. It seemed like purchasing refurbished devices was the most cost-effective option. However, when she compared buying refurbished versus leasing new devices, she saw the latter would result in more reliable devices and a more predictable budget.

“I lease everything,” Gosch said.

Salinas leases 97% of the district’s devices and said she appreciated the flexibility and not having to worry about device pickup, storage or disposal. She also said that with help from Insight, she was able to sell some of the old devices to teachers.

If teachers are getting excited about something, it is our job to figure it out. We have to figure out the heavy and the hard and articulate it in a way that makes it easier for them.”

Amber Teamann Director of Technology and Innovation, Crandall Independent School District

What to Consider When Deciding on a Vendor Partner

“If teachers are getting excited about something, it is our job to figure it out,” Teamann said. “We have to figure out the heavy and the hard and articulate it in a way that makes it easier for them.”

She noted that some new IT leaders may be highly experienced in education but need to adjust to running a K–12 technology department.

“If you’re walking into this job like I did more than I did five years ago, completely clueless, you’re going to lose a lot of money and a lot of time,” Teaman said.

To avoid that fate, she suggested, attendees should look to strong vendor partnerships and to IT leaders who have walked the same path.

Salinas emphasized the importance of working with a flexible and responsive partner, and Teamann and Gosch said such partnerships were essential to selling the school board on leasing versus purchasing.

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