The British Educational Suppliers Association says that ICT spending in primary and secondary schools will fall this year.
In its annual report on ICT trends in UK state schools, the association estimates that primary school IT budgets will decrease by 2.2 percent in 2009-10. Those of secondary schools are predicted to see a drop of one percent, excluding budgets on curriculum software and digital content.
Besa's research suggests a typical primary school IT budget is likely fall to £13,380 in 2010-11, while secondary budgets are set to decrease to £62,970. This represents declines of 4.4 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.
IT allocations from school budgets are predicted to be about £556m in 2010-11, again excluding curriculum software and digital content.
Ray Barker, director of Besa, said: "After year-on-year increases in ICT budgets since 2001, we are now naturally experiencing a reduction in estimated ICT allocations from school budgets.
"This is not surprising as schools are under many financial pressures. Education funding has not been reduced and schools know that they have necessary funds. However during uncertain times, and with pressures to change upon them, schools appear to be treating ICT budgets with caution."
Barker added that ring-fenced funding for IT has ended and that schools are making their own purchasing decisions.
The report also finds that 51 percent of primary schools say they are well equipped with desktop computers, compared to 32 percent in 2001. About 57 percent of secondary schools consider themselves to be in the same position, compared to a third in 2001.
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On desktop and laptop provision, the report reveals that primary school desktop provision increased by only three percent between 2007 and 2009 to an average of 32.8 per school. Laptop computer use in primary schools increased to more than 400,000, up 7.5 percent on 2008.
Besa expects that by April 2010 an additional 91,000 units will have been purchased.
In 2009 secondary schools desktop provision had risen 12.2 percent from 2007. It expects about 135,000 new purchases by April 2010, a similar number to 2009.
By comparison, Kable estimates that the average IT spending for each primary school for 2010-11 will be about £19,786, and £129,458 for secondary schools. Its figures exclude the cost of in-house IT staff.
The difference the Besa and Kable projections can be explained by the latter's inclusion of spending by local authorities on education, the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and other costs such as curriculum software.
Alan Mo, senior analyst at Kable, said: "It's natural to see a divergence between the Besa and Kable figures. Kable's market figures cover both actual and projected ICT spend, and also include expenditure on schools by local authorities.
"This is important as BSF is gaining momentum, and ICT spend on BSF schools is roughly four times higher than in a non-BSF school. We also take into account ICT products, services and resources such as in-house staff, curriculum software, technical support and training."
Talkback
Not surprised about this one. For the past 2 years, the local authority I work for has cut the budget for schools. We were also informed last month that next years and the following years budget will be cut by £12 million, thus throwing a spanner in the works for the planned 'PC refresh' which we are obliged to do every 4 years. Somehow the corporate side of IT gets their budget every year. Schools always seem to suffer when it comes to IT and the budgets.