Maryland Education Enterprise Consortium Models the Way Forward

Today, I have the privilege to kickoff the Maryland Education Enterprise Consortium (MEEC) annual conference keynote in Baltimore, MD.  For more than a decade, MEEC and Microsoft have shared a strategic mission to equip the students and K-16 school leaders with the latest in modern software and technology to make learning more productive and engaging.  The MEEC approach to education productivity and efficiency is a model for the U.S.

As a consortium of public and private K-16 schools across the state of Maryland, MEEC brings the combined purchasing power of its member constituency to maximize their funds in a lean education model. By doing so, MEEC schools get more value for every dollar spent on strategic information technology investments at acquisition and throughout the lifecycle. More details about MEEC’s Microsoft Campus Agreement can be found at the MEEC website.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to hear Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley views on education and cyber security. As one of the leading governors for education and cyber security, he can be especially proud of how MEEC has been a great fiscal stewards of state dollars to get the best deal for Maryland schools and the foundation for a fortified cyber security infrastructure.  This is a model for more states to adopt to unshackle state and local budget constraints.

This is just the beginning.

My focus in Maryland today is about what comes next and how to prepare.  This next digital decade will be fundamentally different from the last ten years.  The investments that Microsoft and others have made in mobile, social, cloud, and natural user interface space will allow us to leapfrog ahead. Knowing when to jump and where to land will be critical for student and institutional success.

MEEC’s momentum puts them a unique position to continue to lead the nation in how schools effectively bolster educational outcomes with technology.  Everything has to be in service to the core mission of Maryland’s learning academies.

Maryland’s education system is already, and arguably, the best in the nation, according the 2011 Quality Counts Annual Report. I love the fact that Marylanders do not rest on their laurels. They continue to raise the bar for the nation and the rest of the world.  That is where the global resources and the magic of software innovation from Microsoft can help.

I want to publicly thank the MEEC board and leadership for trusting Microsoft as a strategic partner in learning for the last decade. I look forward to our continued work together on behalf of learners and learning in this incredibly exciting new era.