By Hector Gonzalez

School districts in Ventura County just got a boost in state funding to improve technology on campuses. The money came from a 13-year-old legal settlement that continues to reap benefits for the state’s educational system.

A total of $11.9 million in K-12 technology vouchers was distributed last month to more than 8,000 California districts and schools as part of the 2003 antitrust settlement between Microsoft Corp. and California consumers, said Peter Tira, spokesperson for the state Department of Education.

As part of a negotiated settlement of a class-action lawsuit, Microsoft agreed to pay $1.1 billion, one of the largest settlements ever reached under California’s antitrust and unfair competition laws, attorneys who represented consumers said at the time.

Since 2006, the department has distributed more than $470 million from the settlement. This latest round of funding was the fifth time the department distributed funds from the settlement, Tira said.

“This is the last big one,” he said.

Schools and districts can use the funding “to wire our classrooms, modernize instruction, successfully give online tests to 3.1 million students and make progress in closing the digital divide,” state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a news release.

The funding was allocated to eligible schools and districts at a rate of $2.22 per student, based on enrollment data that districts certified in fall 2016.

To qualify, schools and districts must have at least 40 percent of their students enrolled in free or reduced-price lunch programs.

Local school districts that received funding are Pleasant Valley, Oxnard Elementary, Oxnard Union High, Somis Union Elementary, and Simi Valley, Ventura, Conejo Valley, Oak Park, Moorpark, Santa Paula and Fillmore unified school districts.

In addition, two schools in the county, Hueneme Elementary School and Mupu School in Santa Paula, received the funding, as did the Ventura County Office of Education.