What’s Actually Powering California Classrooms?
A Call for Infrastructure Transparency in K–12 IT
Walk into any California classroom today and you’ll likely see students on Chromebooks, teachers using cloud-based tools, and smart boards or projectors humming in the background. From the outside, it looks like schools are fully modernized.
But behind the scenes, what’s powering all that digital learning? That’s the part most people never see, and it’s time we talked about it.
The Infrastructure Gap We Don’t Talk About
Some schools are running on Wi-Fi 7, 10GbE switching, and cloud-managed firewalls with full VLAN segmentation. Others? They're still pushing student devices through decade-old switches and consumer-grade APs that were "temporarily installed" during the pandemic and never replaced.
There’s a quiet infrastructure divide in California’s education system, and it’s not always about funding. It’s about visibility, guidance, and shared knowledge.
Let’s Be Honest: Most IT Decisions Happen in the Dark
Right now, thousands of public schools are making technology purchasing decisions based on:
Vendor promises (and incentives),
Outdated RFP templates,
Or what the last guy installed five years ago.
That’s not a strategy, it’s survival mode.
What’s missing is a trusted, transparent space where K–12 tech leaders can see what other schools are actually deploying, learn from their mistakes and successes, and understand what works at different sizes and budgets.
That’s Why We Built PublicEdTech.org
PublicEdTech isn’t just another blog. It’s a platform built by and for California school technologists, to share real-world configurations, equipment trends, and infrastructure stories.
Whether you’re weighing UniFi vs Cisco, upgrading firewalls, or just trying to standardize your MDF closets, we want to:
Document the field: What’s really in use across districts, from SPED centers to high schools?
Elevate the insights: What’s working? What’s aging out? What are people proud of?
Create practical guides: Equipment playbooks, site audit templates, cost calculators, and more.
We’re not chasing vendor sponsorships. We’re chasing clarity.
What You Can Do
🧠 Take the Survey
We’re collecting anonymous infrastructure snapshots from public schools across California. The results will be made public, because no one should have to guess what “normal” looks like anymore.
👉 Fill out the survey
📸 Show Your Rack (Yes, Really)
Snap a photo of your MDF or switch stack and tag us. Blurred IPs encouraged. We’ll feature a mix of “wow” and “whoa” examples to show the full range of what’s out there. Transparency starts with honesty.
💬 Share Your Story
We’re looking for district spotlights, big and small. Got a UniFi rollout that saved your budget? Did your team pull off a full fiber upgrade with no vendor help? Let’s tell that story.
Why It Matters
Every year, schools spend millions on tech, often in silos, often with little long-term planning, and often without knowing what others nearby are doing. We can’t keep reinventing the wheel in isolation.
Better transparency builds better schools. And the first step is pulling back the curtain on our infrastructure, the good, the bad, and the duct-taped.
PublicEdTech.org is here to help. Let’s build the future out loud.
Want to co-author a spotlight post? Have feedback or ideas for a better survey? Email us at info@publicedtech.org. We’re listening. And we’re building this with you.
