Yielding to critics who called the proposed laptop purchase plan too expensive, school district leaders in Cobb County, Ga., have agreed to cut the program by more than half--from an initial $69.9 million to $25 million for the first phase of the program. The Cobb County schools have an operating budget of more than $1 billion per year.

Originally, school district leaders in Cobb County, Ga., wanted to provide a laptop computer to every middle and high school student in the district, which would have made it the largest one-to-one computing initiative in the nation (see "$69.9 million iBook deal on tap in Ga."). On April 13, however, they agreed to limit the initial rollout to a pilot that includes some 9,000 high school students and every teacher in the district. Officials say they will wait and see how the program progresses before deciding whether to give the machines to all 31,000 high school students.

Ultimately, the goal is to provide laptops to more than 63,000 middle and high school students and teachers. But district spokesman Jay Dillon said officials opted to "slow down" that process in order to provide "proof of concept" before moving forward with a larger deployment.

The program, called Power to Learn, is set to roll out in three phases. The school board "approved the concept for the first phase of the program" at its April 13 meeting, district spokesman Doug Goodwin said. "The board did not vote on the contract."

A statement on the district's web site said the contract with Apple Computer to lease iBook laptops is expected to be finalized, reviewed, and approved in the next few weeks. The district will issue a separate request for proposals to establish wireless connectivity at all Cobb County schools, providing the information and communication access necessary for Power to Learn to be effective, officials said.

Under the revised plan, all teachers in the district would get laptops this year. Current computer connections at the district's high schools would be revamped, and as many as four schools would become test sites for the laptop plan. The vast majority of high school students would not get laptops sooner than next year.

In another move intended to reduce the cost of the program, board members stipulated a four-year lease instead of three years, bringing the total estimated cost of Phase One of the project to around $25 million.

The program's architect and one of its chief supporters, Superintendent Joe Redden, said supplying students with computers is a natural move in a world in which many teens, and even younger students, already use computers in their everyday lives.

"Kids learn differently today," he said. "They multitask; they are already used to being engaged on many different levels, and we need to come apace with that in public education and provide that environment."