The rapid shift to remote learning and the uncertainty of the upcoming fall 2020 K-12 semester leave many school finance questions unanswered. How will widespread unemployment and reduced tax revenues affect school budgets? Will budget priorities shift to support elearning tools? And when will school leaders make critical decisions about spending?
To answer these and other key education spending questions, Interactive Educational Systems Designs, Inc. (IESD), in partnership with MCH Strategic Data, has released a national education market study to share insight into priorities, timing of decision-making and challenges currently driving buying decisions in our country’s schools. The report, K-12 Education and the Coronavirus Pandemic, includes input from 1,465 education leaders across the U.S., including more than 600 district administrators and more than 800 school principals.
The study provides statistically significant quantitative data to support immediate and back-to-school planning and decisions for education businesses. The survey report includes recommendations based on IESD’s extensive experience in the education market.
The study was designed to provide education businesses with reliable data and insights for developing product, marketing, and sales plans for the upcoming school year and beyond.
Selected Key Findings
- With the vast majority of respondents (94.8%) indicating that their districts/schools switched to online teaching and learning to complete the 2019-2020 school year, respondents were asked about their 2020-2021 plans for 13 budget items. The most frequent response for each budget item was that they will spend about the same—ranging from 43.4% to 68.1%, depending on the budget item.
- When asked how they were spending the remainder of their 2019-2020 budget due to the coronavirus pandemic, almost half of the respondents (45.0%) said they are spending the remainder, but shifting spending to changing priorities.
- As for their timeframe for considering purchases for 2020-2021, a majority (57.0%) reported that they have already begun the decision process or will do so by the end of June. The remainder stated they are looking to make decisions over the summer or later in the fall.
Additional Survey Topics Include:
- Use of video conferencing systems
- Use of free and fee-based supplemental programs and resources
- Who provides professional development and support for distance learning: in-house staff and education resource providers
- Challenges in switching to distance learning
- What customers want most from curriculum and education resource providers
- Instructional planning for 2020-2021
To order the K-12 Education and the Coronavirus Pandemic survey report, as well as data files with cross-tabs for organizations who want to do additional analysis, go to https://payhip.com/b/6MAr. The cost is $199. Media may request highlights from the survey by emailing kati@kehcomm.com.
