Microsoft Settlement
An extensive class-action lawsuit filed against Microsoft resulted in $2.5 billion worth of vouchers for consumers and businesses in 18 states and the District of Columbia. The majority of this money went unclaimed, so the states are holding millions of dollars in funds. In most states, 50% of the unclaimed funds are going to schools to purchase software and hardware. Each state is handling these funds differently. A few states have already released these funds and many more will announce how this money will be spent in 2007.
Here is the list of participating states:
Arizona • Arkansas • California • District of Columbia • Florida • Kansas • Massachusetts • Minnesota • Montana • Nebraska • New Mexico • New York North Carolina • North Dakota • South Dakota • Tennessee • Vermont • West Virginia • Wisconsin
California
Summary
Over $400 million in vouchers are available to California schools to purchase technology products, professional development or related products. The Request for Application (RFA) is very simple and intended to take only 15 minutes to complete.
Qualifying School Requirements:
- Eligible entities include public schools, county offices of education, charter schools, and State Special Schools serving grades K-12
- The school’s district must have an Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) plan in place. To check technology plan status, visit http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/et/rs/techplan.asp
- At least 40% of students in the school are eligible for free or reduced lunch
Alignment with settlement terms
Don Johnston Incorporated is approved as an Information Technology (IT) Provider and the following products are aligned with the Microsoft settlement terms:
SOLO
Read:OutLoud
Draft:Builder
Write:OutLoud
Co:Writer
WordMaker
Simon S.I.O.
Start-to-Finish
Links:
Minnesota
Summary
Microsoft voucher settlements provide $55.2 million to purchase new computer hardware and software for Minnesota schools.
Timeline
Vouchers must be redeemed between January 27, 2006 and January 27, 2012.
Products aligned with Microsoft settlement terms:
Many of these products are already listed on the eligible products list.
More Links:
FAQs
Vermont
Summary
Microsoft voucher settlements provide $4.7 million to purchase new computer hardware and software for Vermont schools. Cash reimbursement is provided for recent and future technology purchases.
Timeline
Schools submit voucher request forms quarterly up to 12/31/08.
Sequence of events information (pdf)
More Links:
Tennessee
The Tennessee Department of Education announced that $30.6 million is available through terms of the Microsoft settlement. Half of this will be available for software. Each school district will receive $16.40 per student and these funds can be spent on Microsoft products or non-Microsoft software in similar categories to Microsoft products.
Products aligned with Microsoft settlement terms in Tennessee:
SOLO
Links:
Florida
More than $80 million will be available for Florida schools to receive reimbursement for the purchase of a wide range of computer equipment, software and training from any manufacturer. The program has been announced, but the application, requirements and procedure details have not been release.
Currently, Florida has two resources posted:
Summary
Over $75 million in vouchers are available to Wisconsin schools.
Eligibility:
Your public school is eligible if over 33.33% of your students are eligible for free or reduced priced meals (based on data reported January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005).
Purchasing:
According to the claims website, "Software Vouchers may be redeemed for specific categories of software products including operating system software, word processing software, spreadsheet software, presentation software, desktop relational database software, web-authoring software, productivity suite software, and encyclopedia software."
Many of our products fit the definition of productivity suite and wordprocessing software, such as:
The claims department requires that school districts inquire about the eligibility of software. All of the information you need to inquire is available here:
https://www.microsoftwik12.com/product.aspx
Please send them an email; you will hear back within 10 days.
Links:
