The New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) works to save school districts and member charter schools time and money on school technology purchases and services.

Through the NJSBA cooperative pricing system, supported by the New Jersey Department of Education, districts may forgo the competitive bidding process on a wide range of technology products and services offered through the NJSBA TEC program.

Districts that are members of the Alliance for Competitive Energy Services (ACES), the largest energy aggregation program in the state, are already members of the cooperative pricing system and can begin purchasing off the cooperative pricing system at any time using procurement number #E-8801-ACES-CPS. To check to see if your district belongs to the NJSBA CPS by visiting www.njsba.org/cps.

Districts that are not members of ACES may pass a resolution to join the NJSBA cooperative pricing system. More information on joining the cooperative pricing system, including a sample resolution and agreement, and a cooperative purchasing guide and rules are available on the NJSBA website at www.njsba.org/cps.

Products Available Under NJSBA’s Cooperative Pricing System:

VMWare VMware solutions ensure that students and faculty have access to educational resources anywhere and anytime — in the classroom, on a mobile device or from their home or any place where they have internet access. Products offered through the contract include data center virtualization and cloud infrastructure; storage and availability; hyper-converged infrastructure; cloud management; digital workspace; and more. Learn more.

E-Rate Consulting, Inc. NJSBA’s partnership with E-Rate Consulting, Inc. helps school districts and member charter schools throughout New Jersey fully leverage the opportunities available through the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, more commonly known as E-Rate. Learn more.

21st Century Classroom Solutions NJSBA has partnered with SHI to help schools save money on the items necessary to create a 21st-century classroom, including makerspace furniture, 3D printers, laptops, tablets, workstations, installation services and more. Learn more.

Cybersecurity NJSBA has partnered with Carahsoft to offer cost-effective protection to help schools and districts secure their critical networks and digital information. Learn more.

Cost-Savings on Microsoft Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) NJSBA  has partnered with NJEdge, a statewide nonprofit Research and Education Network, to expand the products offered through its Microsoft Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) program. Under the new agreement, districts will be able to purchase Microsoft products through the NJEdge cooperative pricing system, which eliminates the need to undergo the competitive bidding process.

The Microsoft EES, offered through SHI International, is a simple, cost-effective way of procuring the tools that schools need to prepare students for the modern workplace while empowering teachers to deliver 21st-century digital learning.

Microsoft Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) provides:

  • A simple annual payment based on full-time equivalent (FTE) employees; not a growing PC count.
  • No-cost work-at-home rights for your teachers so they have the same tools at home and at school.
  • Student Advantage – Office Pro Plus for your students and families at home on up to five PCs or MACs and another five tablets (including iPads) at no additional cost.
  • Professional development with a focus on building teacher capacity at no additional cost.
  • A host of free tools from Office 365 including Office Online (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, OneNote); Exchange (email) Online, SharePoint Online, Lync and one terabyte of storage through OneDrive.

Additional new benefits include:

  • Level B pricing
  • Minecraft for Education (Included in the bundle)
  • Free classroom tools (StaffHub, Sway, One Note Class Notebook, Office Lens)
  • Education qualified users vs. full-time employees
  • Email compliance – legal hold, eDiscovery
  • Intune + AADP 1 = ability to deploy zero touch (No more Windows device imaging)

To review the full list of NJEdge district members to see if your district belongs to NJEdge, visit njsba.org/microsoft. Districts that are members of NJEdge can begin purchasing off the new Microsoft EES today using procurement number DCA #269EMCP.

Districts that are not members of NJEdge must pass a resolution to join and sign the Edge Market Cooperative Pricing System agreement to participate.

For questions on joining NJEdge, please contact Michelle Ferraro at (855) 832-3343.

For more information on the Microsoft EES, contact Bryan Rosenthal, SHI Account Executive at 908-692-4591.

To learn more about the NJSBA cooperative pricing system and ways the NJSBA TEC program can help with your district’s technology needs.

Lauren Cuervo is NJSBA’s marketing manager.