Craig Witherspoon, superintendent of the Edgecombe County Public Schools in North Carolina, unveiled the school district's one-to-one laptop program at a recent board meeting. Most of that meeting focused on the grim realities of state, federal and local budget cuts, and the fact that the district is losing students as the county population drops.

The laptop program is not a frill, but a critical component of teaching students to become competitive with their peers, says Witherspoon. The district also hopes that the program will attract more business and industry and, in return, families and students to the area.

Witherspoon gave the board three scenarios, ranging from an initial implementation in grades nine and ten to a program for every high school student. Plans also vary between purchasing and leasing computers. The first year of the program could cost between $1.9 and $3.28 million.

Administrators did not include the laptop program in this year's proposed budget because it would exceed the normal amount for county support. "This would be a supplemental request," Witherspoon explained. "When you're looking at this, we still need to operate the district in the same fashion that we have. At this point, we didn't want to confuse the issue."

One source of supplemental funding could be the Golden LEAF Foundation, an organization that distributes settlements from tobacco companies. Edgecombe County Public Schools received a $1.5 million grant for the project from Golden LEAF.

Sources: Rocky Mount Telegram, Edgecombe approves $59m school budget and School Board Studies Laptops