Geof,
Last year I looked into teaching video/editing at a local community center, here’s what I ran up against.
Macs were COMPLETELY out of the question. Compounding the problem, most people have PCs in their homes, so a PC-based solution seemed necessary. Fortunately, I found that AVID had AVID Free DV, which, while it has some limitations as to screen size requirements etc. was going to be a viable alternative to an Apple-based system. I actually downloaded it and began learning it, really not bad for a basic editing theory class.
Would I rather have them get Macs? Absolutely, but this is a government-run institution can’t fight city hall!
Just my thoughts…
Have a wonderful day.