Why Obama Can't Ignore Education Tech

[Commentary] As President-elect Obama and the new Congress develop a recovery package, they should leverage the pervasive power of technology and invest in education -- specifically education technology -- a proven way to generate significant, widespread economic benefits by preparing the workforce for tomorrow's challenges. While the primary purpose of the economic recovery package will be to motivate job creation and the economy in a one-to-two-year period, it is equally as important to include measures that generate growth and prosperity for many years to come. A carefully constructed federal investment of $20 billion to $36 billion in education technology, in schools, can meet the short-term stimulus requirements and strengthen our economy for the long term. School technology investments enable 21st-century learning and provide our current and future workforce with the tools they need to compete and succeed in our globally integrated world. To accomplish this goal, Obama's reported $850 billion Economic Recovery Plan should include two critical components: 1) Investments in school technology and broadband; and 2) Investments in home-to-school technology targeted at low-income families.

(Jim Goodnight is founder and CEO of SAS Institute, and Keith Krueger is CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN))