After four years of giving most high school students who walk in its doors an Apple iPad, Vancouver Public Schools is set to spend $2,652,800 over the next four years to replace them.
Advanced students, as it turns out, need keyboards.
The Vancouver school board on Tuesday approved a four-year lease with California-based TEQLEASE, Inc. to buy 8,000 Acer R752TN Chromebooks for high school campuses, as well as at Vancouver iTech Preparatory School and Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. The Acer Chromebooks, which have a touch screen and can be flipped into a tablet, retail for about $430. The lease ends up costing the district about $300 per device. The replacements will arrive this fall.
The district will pay for the contract using its technology levy, which voters approved in February. The six-year levy, which kicks in next year, will collect about 31 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value.
Christina Iremonger, chief digital officer for the school district, said it was time to replace high school devices anyway; the iPads are soon to be out-of-date. Vancouver Public Schools purchased 6,100 iPads in 2015. With interest and fees, that contract cost the district $2,872,360.60, according to a 2015 school board agenda.