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companies were buying extensive amounts of iPads: 90% of Fortune 500 companies were deploying or testing iPads in 2012 according to Mubaloo, and tablet adoption have grown by almost 40% in 2016 according to a report published by Javelin Strategy & Research.

The outcome will be quite innovative. Within a year, the school district expects all 25,000 students to have an iPad — for grades 3-12 — or an iPod Touch for those in kindergarten through 2nd grade.

The total price tag of $20 million — over five years — will be covered with district money.

Federal funds will help with infrastructure. Free training will be provided by Abilene Christian University (ACU), a leader in educational technology instruction.

There's been some dispute to these numbers. Lee Wilson, a veteran of the education industry, blogged exhaustively that Apple e-textbooks actually cost six-to-seven times more than print textbooks. Using estimated data from his own experience and from technology directors, he determined Apple textbooks cost $71.55 per student, per class, as opposed to $14.26 for print textbooks. He factored purchase of the devices into cost. (I urge you to read his post, and his follow-up, and judge the numbers yourself.)

Either way, if the price tag for iPads and e-textbooks ends up being too costly and districts aren't seeing much of a different from their print past, meeting Arne Duncan's digital textbook goals may be tough.

tablet owners more than quadrupled among college-bound high school seniors during the past year, with 17 percent surveyed this year claiming a tablet device as their own.

It also more than tripled among college students, with a quarter of this year's respondents owning a tablet.

69 percent of high school seniors and 63 percent of college students said they believed tablets would effectively replace textbooks within five years,