LA Schools Realize Giving Every Kid an iPad Was a Costly Disaster, Will Give Every Kid a Laptop Instead

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s
plan to give every child an iPad—at a cost of $1 billion to
taxpayers—drew universal criticism after numerous problems arose.
For one thing, when the devices were broken, lost, or stolen, it
wasn’t clear whether parents, the schools, or the kids themselves
were responsible. Tech-savy students easily broke through the
firewalls administrators had installed to keep them from using the
devices to visit social media websites. This prompted some schools
to prohibit the use of the iPads at home, when students are away
from teacher supervision, even though one of the major intended
functions of the iPad program was to give kids a homework aid.

The entire thing was an unmitigated disaster—a clear example of
real life trumping the good intentions of bureaucrats

But LAUSD has clearly learned its lesson, right?
Wrong:

Los Angeles school district officials have allowed a group of
high schools to choose from among six different laptop computers
for their students — a marked contrast to last year’s decision to
give every pupil an iPad.

Contracts that will come under final review by the Board of
Education on Tuesday would authorize the purchase of one of six
devices for each of the 27 high schools at a cost not to exceed $40
million.

This story in the Los Angeles Times
highlights that the new approach emphasizes choosing the
devices that are right for each school, rather than expecting an
iPad to be the answer to every kid’s educational needs. Still, it’s
an awfully expensive plan, given that most of the options actually
cost more than the iPad:

The initial money to pay for the technology is coming from
voter-approved bonds. Officials have not yet identified funding to
sustain the $1-billion-plus effort. Three of the laptops being
tried in the high schools are likely to cost more than the iPads. A
different style of laptop, called a Chromebook, would cost
less.

Teachers and students at the high schools sent delegations to
try out devices and meet with vendors at district headquarters.

It wasn’t a perfect process. The curriculum, for example, was
hard to assess in a process akin to speed dating, said one
participant.

If I were an LA public school student, I would be pretty excited
to get an iPad or a Chromebook or whatever. But if I were an LA
voter, I would be skeptical that such things serve a worthwhile
educational purpose and are a good use of my tax dollars.