School eyes savings with Apple textbooks

DANVILE, Ind. (WISH) - Apple announced plans Thursday to start selling electronic versions of a handful of high school textbooks: everything from biology to algebra - and that has schools dreaming high-tech dreams.

These new iBooks contain videos and other interactive elements that would be downloaded to a student's iPad.

While the idea would cut the cost of a textbook substantially, it would require a student to have one of the pricey portable computers. And Apple today didn't reveal any new program to defray the cost.

Despite that, the idea is the talk of many school districts.

24-Hour News 8 found one school that's already computing the cost savings. Every high school student in Danville got an iPad in November.

"That's what the world is coming to," said P.J. Hamann, Danville High School principal. "We don't do worksheets anymore. We don't do paper. That's all electronic."

With the latest Apple announcement, Danville Superintendent Denis Ward said more affordable textbooks could mean savings.

"You can imagine, 800 students, each having six or seven textbooks, at $120 a piece, the amount that could save us in providing that material to the student," he said.

Hamann said electronic textbooks at $15 apiece could lower student book fees about $100 a year. The district won't know the exact savings until it learns more about the new program.

Ward added: "That was one of the things as we entered into this project we hoped would happen. Financially, it would be a great win for us, would save the district thousands of dollars."

Right now, parents pay an insurance fee that's included in their yearly book fee. To pay for the iPads, the district used part of an energy savings bond and an innovation grant from the state Department of Education.

They're hoping to extend the program to the elementary and middle schools as well.