School iPads to cost nearly $100 more each, revised budget shows

[kiva]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Providing Apple iPads to Los Angeles students will cost nearly $100 more apiece — or $770 per tablet, a new school district budget shows. This potential sticker shock can be avoided, but only after the L.A. Unified School District has spent at least $400 million for the devices. In other words, the district would have to buy nearly 520,000 iPads before getting lower prices. Officials did not answer questions Monday about how much the district would then spend on the remaining tablets.

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The goal is to provide iPads to every teacher and student, so officials remain optimistic about achieving the discount, even though start-up problems emerged immediately this fall. More than 300 students deleted security filters, allowing them to browse the Internet freely and prompting officials to suspend use of iPads at three campuses.

Parents also have expressed confusion about their responsibility for the devices. And officials have yet to purchase mechanical keyboards that will be necessary to use the iPads on new standardized tests.

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The iPad project is funded almost entirely with school-construction bonds, a strategy that has attracted some criticism.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ipads-cost-20131022,0,6559073.story?track=rss#axzz2iSKDLf00

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I truly hope the school district officials face some very hard questions about this.