Boise, ID – The Idaho Technology Task Force released its list of recommendations Tuesday. The recommendations guide how the state should implement technology mandates from the new Students Come First education laws. There are more than 40 in total. They include laptops for every high school student in the state. Students can take the laptops home if their parents take a course and pay an insurance fee. It’s now up to the state department of education to implement them as it sees fit. Schools Superintendent Tom Luna says he takes the work of the task force very seriously.
Tom Luna “This group is not window dressing. We fully intend to follow the recommendations that have come forward from this committee.”
The task force did not choose a provider of laptops for Idaho’s students. A subcommittee will write a request for proposal from interested companies. The task force favors using a model like the one used by the state of Maine. It has one vendor responsible for supplying computers, maintaining and repairing them and keeping them connected to the internet. Maine contracts with Apple for that.