Are smartboards worth the financial investment?

Smartboards are being used in many, many schools throughout the country, but are they really worth the financial investment? It is no mystery that smartboards are a very expensive technology, so to equip each classroom with a smartboard many things must be considered. I have seen smartboards make a really good impact on student interaction, attention, and learning. It can help keep students focused and excited about learning knowing they get to be involved directly and can use the smartboard. I only think they should be used in a few select classrooms, though. Just for the cost of a smartboard, and the effectiveness on certain grade levels, I would only purchase these for classrooms who are directly learning in core subject areas from grades 4-8. Anything younger than that age I would say it is very unnecessary and all students will not be able to use and be engaged in the technology. For high school students, they know longer have such a need to be involved and a smartboard is not going to do anything to enhance the learning experience. It may have some minimal advantages for high school students, but definitely not worth the investment. I think school boards, administrators, and teachers should definitely look at what kind of students and classrooms these can be effective with, and then we can justify buying these smartboards for certain classrooms. I think smartboards are an awesome technology, but we must make sure we are not wasting money on expensive technologies that are not enhancing the learning experience greatly.