Mercedes, Texas, is a rural town with a population of 15,000. Ninety-three percent of children live at or below the poverty level and a large percentage of those children live in sub-standard housing (colonias) that lack basic utilities. The school district is the largest employer in Mercedes and they experience a low turnover rate.

When Jesus Gandara became superintendent in 1996, he began an intensive project to rebuild all eight schools in the district and create a technology infrastructure to improve learning and prepare students to succeed in the global economy. Today, the schools are a source of pride and inspiration in the tightly knit community.

Major infrastructure upgrades and equipment purchases have equipped all classrooms with network access and 3 to 4 computers. Elementary schools have labs where students use Playstation devices connected to televisions to access Lightspan educational software, and they have mobile laptop carts for 1:1 computing lessons. Now that the schools have capacity, Technology Director David Avila would like to see classroom integration beyond educational game software.