A plan to train convicts to fix computers for Idaho schools is not much of a consolation, say superintendents who have watched prisons drain state coffers at education’s expense.

“If they (convicts) come out with a trade, they’re less apt to cost us money as taxpayers,” state schools Superintendent Anne Fox told north-central Idaho superintendents on Thursday.

Fox is a member of the Governor’s Technology Council, which proposes the convicts-computers concept. The superintendents voted to support the idea, but had reservations.

The council is checking to see whether state law allows education money to be spent on such a project, Fox said.

The start-up cost would be $167,000 and would come from the schools’ technology budget.

“It does really bug me to give the prisons some more education money,” said Potlatch Superintendent Don Armstrong.

It would pay for trainers at two sites: the Idaho State Penitentiary near Boise and the Women’s Correctional Institution at Pocatello. The prisons would provide office space and a clerk, Fox said.

It is modeled after a Boise State University program where a trainer and two college students have repaired 2,000 computers over two years for Boise schools, Fox said.

Two trainers with prison labor could fix 4,000 computers a year, Fox estimated. As an incentive, inmates would be paid up to $35 a month.

Each site would receive $7,000 to pay inmates, Fox said. The trainers also would teach school employees to fix their own equipment.

The superintendents said some districts already have repair centers and suggested high school students rather than inmates should receive the education.

“We’re training kids to provide some of that help, and they’re teaching teachers,” Moscow Superintendent Jack Hill said. Others worried two trainers would not be able to serve all 112 school districts.

“We want to have our fair share of the training,” Whitepine Superintendent Harold Ott said.

Fox said her department would work out a schedule to ensure services were equally distributed.

Another aspect is having inmates work on equipment donated to schools by businesses. AT&T has agreed to solicit computer donations, Fox said.

Even if Potlatch received just one high-quality computer out of the deal, Armstrong said, it would be worth the dollars the school would pay.

“I’d be willing to chance $250,” Armstrong said, getting Fox’s assurance the program would be a one-year trial. The state Board of Education would have to approve it.