HP’s successful bid was a partnership that also included Education Networks of America for the wireless networks.

Two weeks before the November election, in which Idaho voters could cancel the whole program, the state of Idaho has signed a $180 million, eight-year contract with Hewlett-Packard to supply laptop computers to every Idaho high school student.

Von Hansen, vice president and general manager at HP Boise, who joined dignitaries including Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and state schools Superintendent Tom Luna at the HP plant in Boise to announce the contract, said, “We’re proud to open this new chapter in our relationship with the state. … This is a great honor for HP.”

If voters turn thumbs down on Proposition 3 in two weeks, the contract will be canceled.

But Luna said, “This train has left the station when it comes to transforming our schools and the 21st century learning opportunity. We’ll see what happens on election day, but it’s not going to stop the transformation that’s happening.”

Mike Lanza, chairman of the Vote No on Props 1,2,3 campaign, said, “I think that the outcome of the election will determine whether anything goes forward.”

Luna pushed sweeping school reforms in three laws, all of which are now being tested by voters in referendum measures, after opponents gathered more than 74,000 signatures to place them on the ballot.

Proposition 1 removes most collective bargaining rights from teachers; Proposition 2 imposes a new merit-pay bonus system; and Proposition 3 requires big technology boosts, including laptops for every high school student and requiring two online classes to graduate, while rewriting state school funding formulas.

Luna pitched his plan, dubbed “Students Come First,” as a way to educate more students at a higher level without spending more. But the shift in funding priorities proved highly controversial.

The laws passed in 2011. Since last spring, the state has been working on selecting a vendor for the computers, but a formal bid process was canceled in June for lack of competitive bids. The state then began negotiating with up to half a dozen providers, before settling Oct. 23 on HP.

In addition to supplying and maintaining the laptop computers, the contract covers setting up and maintaining a wireless network in every Idaho high school, using broadband connections already supplied by the Idaho Education Network.