This source breaks down some of the main pros and cons regarding the issue of promoting tablets in the classroom for grades K-12. Major points are addressed such as the health controversy, financial adjustments, distractibility, etc. Interesting statistics about number of e-books purchased and usage is presented, along with statistics about expenses of the electronic book options. I found this source by Googleing, "digital books vs textbooks, pros and cons".
This website contains all the information that is provided for a no-cost public school funded system where families can have curriculum appropriate materials ("even bags of rocks and dirt") delivered to their front door and complete graded Kindergarten through the 12th grade virtually from home. They claim these virtual students will spend about 20-25% of their time working on the computer, while high school students in this program can plan to spend about three hours each day on the computer. This site offers free examples of lesson plans, and lots of information on how this system works.
Real teachers discuss the pros and cons of tablets in the classroom. North Carolina middle schools receive 15,450 tablets for educational purposes and discuss their impact on learning. K-12 schools spend $17 billion annually on instructional materials and technology.
This article explained the pros and cons of using tablets(Ipads) over textbooks. Some ideas that were discussed were; the idea that tablets reduce paper waste, so they are better for the environment. Another idea was brought up about price, textbooks in schools is a 8 billion dollar industry where as tablets are a 35 billion dollar industry.