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While LAUSD is cutting school librarians and nurses, having trouble maintaining their aging buildings and suffering from notoriously large class sizes, it has decided to spend $1 billion handing out iPads to all 600,000 students enrolled in the school system. The project which is rolling out in phases has already seen its share of problems. The devices cost the district $768 a piece and are installed with English and Math software. While LAUSD had initially assured the public that there would be no other fees involved once the iPads were purchased, they are now saying that the installed curriculum will expire after three years and must be renewed at a cost of $50 to $100 per iPad.

In addition to the high costs of the technology, the project has had a number of other problems. Many high school students were able to bypass the security software which was set up to block unauthorized websites and 71 devices were reported missing. John Deasy, LAUSD superintendent argued in favor of the technology saying, “it is no longer a maybe or a luxury. It’s a fundamental right of students.” But critics point out that the spiraling costs of a technology that is doomed to become outdated quickly may be financially risky for the future of the nation’s second largest school system.

Yesterday the Bond Oversight Committee approved a $45 million plan to expand the program to 45 more schools but denied $90 million which would be needed to provide iPads for every principal, teacher and student.

GUEST: Howard Blume, Howard Blume, LA Times Reporter and co-host of Deadline LA with Barbara Osborn which airs Mondays at 3 pm on KPFK.