Luna: Two-thirds already want to be part of first 3rd to get laptops

State schools Supt. Tom Luna said there’s strong interest in being among the first third of schools to join the new “one-to-one” laptop computer program, in which every high school student would get a computer; his budget request includes $2.5 million for that next year. “Just as it is in every other part of our lives, we recognize that technology is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ tool in the classroom. It is an essential tool,” Luna said. He’s asked schools and districts to send letters of interest if they want to be in the first third; so far, he’s gotten 73 letters representing 139 schools and more than 57,000 students - that’s two-thirds of the state’s high school students. “The overwhelming number of our schools want these devices, students and parents and schools want this technology, and they want to participate now, not later,” Luna told JFAC.