The San Diego Unified School District has purchased nearly 26,000 iPads for use by students in its classrooms starting this fall, making it one of the largest such programs of its kind to date.
The district has bought $15 million worth of iPads for use in 340 classrooms this fall, according to San Diego`s 10 News. The money has come from a voter-approved funding program known as “Proposition S,” which sets funds aside for up-to-date technology in the classroom.
The district has bought iPad 2 units that retail for $400, but a $30 education discount from Apple means the district will save hundreds of thousands of dollars on the purchase.
The district has not announced what software the students will use, though one possible candidate would be Apple’s own iBooks app, which was enhanced for digital textbooks earlier this year, with the release of iBooks 2. The iPad 2 devices will be used in 5th and 8th grade classrooms, and also some high school classrooms.
Apple’s chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, first noted the purchase during the company’s quarterly earnings call in April. Oppenheimer noted that Apple’s K-12 customers had purchased twice as many iPads as Macs in the March quarter, even though the company had also set a record for Mac sales in the same period.
“iPad continues to open doors for new customers with whom Apple previously had no relationship,” he said. “As we enter the K-12 institution buying season, we’re hopeful that iPad will be a popular choice.”
