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As school districts across the country begin to make major budget cuts, technology directors face the same old challenge: how do we fight for ourselves when most people don鈥檛 understand what we do?

鈥淭echnology people have the desire, in many cases, to be neither seen nor heard,鈥� said Allen Miedema, executive director for technology of Northshore School District. 鈥淭hey like sort of being in the basements of buildings, and that鈥檚 a bad place to be, because people will forget you鈥檙e there, and they won鈥檛 know what you do.鈥�

Advocating for your department and your budget means communicating simply and strategically, something that isn鈥檛 always the engineer鈥檚 strength. We talked to four experienced CIOs and tech leaders who have weathered past budget cuts, asking what advice they鈥檇 give their past selves. They mentioned everything from vendor relationships to practicing explaining the technical details to the least-technical person you know.

Above all, they said, is effective communication. If you can鈥檛 explain the importance of what you do in a way people understand, you鈥檒l always be on the chopping block.

1. Put the focus on the classroom experience 鈥� what does this do?

鈥淚t鈥檚 not about the stuff or the workload, and we often get stuck in that. We鈥檒l say, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 the stuff we need,鈥� instead of talking about what it means to the kids in the classroom,鈥� said Joe Morelock, superintendent of Newberg Public Schools.

He brought up the example of SSOs.

鈥淭hey might say, 鈥榃hy are you spending x per year per kid?鈥� because they don鈥檛 understand the point of it; they don鈥檛 even know what a single-sign on is,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut what they do understand is how much time is lost when a teacher is trying to make sure every single second-grade kid is logged into the app 鈥� they鈥檙e losing all that instructional time on something that is not relevant.鈥�

This, he said, is the key to effectively communicating about technology to a non-technical crowd.

鈥淲e have to think of ways to tell the story of the tool or service we鈥檙e providing as ways to give time to teachers and kids to do the learning. We installed Google Voice because it was a technical solution, but it was more than that 鈥� it was giving teachers, kids and parents the ability to connect with each other safely.鈥�

2. Become a fluent translator for tech

鈥淧eople think of tech as either it works, or it doesn鈥檛, so very binary decisions get made about it,鈥� said Leslie Golden, the president of Instill Security and IT director at Lines for Life.

鈥淲hen directors of IT or technologists of any role work with leaders who are not technical, we are always up against learning how to be good translators,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ven if budgets are steady, it is very, very hard for IT to make themselves a priority unless things are failing. The ongoing care and feeding of technology isn鈥檛 treated the same way it is for students or the unions or test scores.鈥�

Steve Langford, CIO for Beaverton School District, said that it鈥檚 important to describe, in detail, what will be lost to the individual.

鈥淵ou need to be crystal-clear if you are going to reduce in an area that鈥檚 going to be a change in the service level to the organization,鈥� he said.

That means explaining the individual experience, rather than what the system as a whole does 鈥� if you cut this person, we cannot support these programs or these sites.

Leslie suggested becoming comfortable with analogies and metaphor, then grounding your explanation in things your audience has seen and experienced, which helps effectively communicate risk.

For example: while most school board members don鈥檛 understand much about security architecture, they may have experienced a Zoom bombing in their meeting, and you can start with that example to explain other security threats. By tying your explanation to their experiences, they鈥檙e better able to absorb the importance.

鈥淚t鈥檚 playing that translator role. IT leaders should get comfortable with metaphor and realize that the politics of education are prominent drivers,鈥� Leslie said. 鈥淚f they don鈥檛 take seriously the idea of being strategic communicators, they will find themselves either not invited to the cabinet-level table or even excluded from it.鈥�

3. Find your allies and advocates by explaining the role tech plays in their departments.

Leslie suggested practicing your translation skills on someone non-technical, ideally the head of another department, before you present to the group. Make sure they understand, and will tell you if you鈥檙e getting too technical, or talking about the wrong scope. Stay away from both the 35,000-foot and 35mm view.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really helpful to build a trusting relationship with someone at your level in another department,鈥� Leslie said, adding that in the past few months, many departments have worked together in ways they never have before, and you should keep those doors and windows open as you go into the budget cut process.

鈥淏eing a team player, saying, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to make these informed decisions together, and here鈥檚 what that looks like,鈥� is incredibly successful. We say, 鈥業f we pull our two people from your staff, you鈥檙e not going to be able to run a help desk.鈥� Then, don鈥檛 be afraid of the righteousness of that. You鈥檙e not being rude, you鈥檙e helping them to make an informed decision.鈥�

Because tech is so often invisible, Allen said, people don鈥檛 realize how much the cuts will hurt them.

鈥淔ind some allies and have the conversation 鈥� 鈥橦ey, what鈥檚 the impact going to be in these if these different services get cut?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 talk in terms of you doing me a favor, I鈥檇 talk about it in terms of the transportation routing system you rely on 鈥� I don鈥檛 want to go into a conversation where I鈥檓 the advocate for systems I don鈥檛 use. I want that department to be in front of that, and I鈥檓 supporting them. So if they鈥檙e going to talk about cutting this service, Bob from Transportation will raise his hand and say, 鈥榃ait!鈥欌��

He noted that, in the past, a huge amount of his budget was for licensing that only one department uses, and he has since successfully shifted ownership of both the budget and business relationship with the vendor to that department.

鈥淚鈥檝e moved costs to transportation, to food services, to HR when they are clearly the business owners of those systems,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o together we鈥檙e going to go to business services and make a case for an increase in your budget, not my budget. You鈥檙e going to manage more of the relationship with the vendor, and I鈥檒l handle the technology part of it.鈥�

Allies can be outside your organization, too.

鈥淏y developing relationships with your vendors or lisa疯马秀and the purchasing co-ops, you鈥檒l often find out you鈥檙e overpaying for services,鈥� Allen said. 鈥淲e did that with Microsoft for years, and Thomas (Richards, OETC鈥檚 executive director) was able to help us figure out where we could cut some stuff we鈥檙e not using. You can go back to your vendor and say, 鈥楾imes are tough, I鈥檝e got this budget and you guys are a big-ticket item for me. How can we reduce my invoice and still get service?鈥� That鈥檚 an easier conversation to have if you鈥檝e already invested in building a relationship.鈥�

4. With tech, a small amount of spending now can mean a great deal of savings later, so consider the whole

Communicate that tech is a department where spending can often mean saving, whether that鈥檚 being able to alleviate some of the pain of service cuts through automation or avoiding a huge hole down the road because you haven鈥檛 been maintaining your fleet.

鈥淵ou have to think about your district鈥檚 core values, and what you鈥檙e trying to do every day,鈥� Joe said. 鈥淔igure out what your must-haves versus nice-to-haves are, consider the long-term detriment to the cuts you鈥檙e considering, then try to select the things that have the least amount of long-term damage.鈥�

Right now, Steve said, tech is front and center because of the closings.

鈥淚t would be very easy for me to pound the table and say, 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 cut tech at all,’鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut if I did that, I鈥檓 not looking at the other needs of the organization. My responsibility, as the leadership, is to ask how we best make reductions while preserving the entire function of the system.鈥�

And that goes within your department, too. He brought up the example of deciding that, say, network is the most important thing and can鈥檛 be touched.

鈥淪o then we put all our money into that, and we don鈥檛 have the money to maintain our SIS, which means we can鈥檛 do state reporting and don鈥檛 have the tools for teachers to take attendance, and then you don鈥檛 have that data and our entire school system is in jeopardy.鈥�

5. Ask your team for ideas

Part of that balanced cutting comes from getting a lot of voices in the room.

鈥淎s soon as you鈥檙e comfortable being transparent with folks in your department, be transparent, because you need the collective intelligence of the group,鈥� Allen said.

He notes that your team has ideas that you have not yet had.

鈥淵ou get better thinking from the whole group, especially when you say, 鈥楬ey, we have to cut $100k, and if we can鈥檛 find it together, I鈥檓 going to have to find it on my own.鈥� People get really focused because nobody wants to lose staff, and you get some really great ideas.”

6. Take care of yourself.

Finally, Joe said, to fully meet this challenge, you have to take care of yourself.

鈥淩eductions of this magnitude are emotionally taxing,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou are dealing with people鈥檚 livelihoods, you are possibly putting someone out of a job when they might find it very hard to get another one. Taking care of your own mental health 鈥� getting sleep, eating well, taking walks when you need them 鈥� you need those things, because you need to be very clear-headed about the choices you鈥檙e going to make.鈥�