Baltimore County wants tablets or laptops for all students by 2018

Baltimore County Public Schools is moving forward with a five-year, $150 million program to put tablets or laptops in every student’s hands, a seemingly daunting task for a school system with more than 110,000 students.
According to county schools superintendent Dallas Dance, the program will begin in the fall with some elementary schools.
The Baltimore Sun reports:

Baltimore County is reviewing bids from a number of companies for laptops or tablets that come with keyboards, which will be delivered in August to first- through third-graders in 10 elementary schools. On March 11, administrators plan to take a proposed contract to the school board, which could vote on it that night.

To pay for the new technology, Dance is applying a method used in Houston’s public schools, where he was previously assistant superintendent:

Baltimore County will try to reallocate money from existing funds to pay for its technology purchases … Dance is cutting per-pupil funding to elementary schools by 13 percent and to middle and high schools by 5 percent next year to begin paying for the rollout.

Read more at the Baltimore Sun.