Lawsuit Tries to Stop Cobb County iBook Program

by , 4:35 PM EDT, June 1st, 2005

As first reported by MacDailyNews, an Associated Press article published on Wednesday revealed that former Cobb County commissioner Butch Thompson has filed suit to stop the roll-out of iBook computers to teachers and students at pilot schools in the Georgia district.

Even though voters in 2003 approved a 1% sales tax to fund the program, Mr. Thompson said: "I didn't vote for laptops for every student in the county, and I don't think anyone else did. In essence, they took funds designated for one purpose and used it for something else."

The county is currently preparing to roll out the first US$25 million phase of the program, which calls for giving iBooks to students and teachers at four high schools and upgrading middle school computer labs.

Some teachers have already received their laptops. The special sales tax, which expires in 2008, will raise approximately $70 million toward the program, which will expand pending the results of the first phase. Eventually, 63,000 laptops could be distributed to all the teachers and students in grades 6 through 12.