Massive School iBook Program Scrapped

A program that once promised to be one of the largest educational laptop deployments ever now appears to have been scrapped following a court ruling and announcement by the school board. Cobb County, Georgia was to receive more than 63,000 iBooks for both students and teachers across the district.

The decision by Superior Court Judge S. Lark Ingram said that money received through a special tax fund called the Special Purpose Location Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, were only approved by voters to replace obsolete computers, not fund a program to give laptops to students and teachers.

A former Cobb County commissioner, Butch Thompson, brought the case to court in June. He accused the school district of a "bait and switch."

"The Cobb County Board of Education is disappointed in Friday's court decision regarding the use of SPLOST funds for technology improvements in the school district," the school district said after the ruling.

Late Monday, after meeting with attorneys, it said that the program was "no longer an option."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Tuesday, however, that there was still hope for the program. County attorneys say Ingram erred in his decision, which opens it up for appeal. It is not immediately clear if the county will appeal, although they plan to work on a new plan to upgrade the district's computers.