Research

Laptops Expected To Be Biggest K-12 Tech Expense in 2015

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/13/15

IT spending by K-12 in the United States is expected to hit about $4.7 billion for 2015. The biggest single area for technology spending will be laptop computers at $1.4 billion.

Those estimates come out of a new IT spending pivot table from IDC Government Insights, which provides estimates and forecasts for the entire U.S. education sector, encompassing K–12, higher ed and "other" education. According to the analyst firm, the guidance will be published bi-annually. The report will include details on education level, individual states, education functional areas, enrollment levels and technology segments.

The current spending guide also offered these findings:

• California leads in overall education IT spending at $2.3 billion for 2015, followed by Texas ($1.2 billion) and New York ($1.1 billion);
• Tablets and e-readers will grow by eight percent across all education levels and types by the end of 2015, for a total of $522 million. Spending for that category in K-12 will reach $153 million, about 29 percent of the total, an upswing driven, according to Research Director Shawn McCarthy, by "classroom use"; and
• Spending on notebook computers peaked in 2014 at just over $4 billion across all education levels and types. That's expected to decline by nearly seven percent this year.

"IT growth among educational institutions has been spurred by a recovering economy, recovering tax bases, and an increase in the number of government education grants," said McCarthy. "While the drop in PC spending was a bit surprising last year, we expect tablet computers to have a bright future in education, particularly for use in science classes and for one-off training via apps."