Sea change in Stillwater?

This is big news out of Stillwater:

The Stillwater schools superintendent said Wednesday he "dreamed of ways" to expand a successful laptop computer program at Oak-Land Junior High to the district's other secondary schools. Instead, he is recommending the program be discontinued for lack of funds.

Instead:

Ryskoski instead suggested the district focus on staff development, improving the phone system and enhancing existing networks to support students who bring their own computing devices to school.

I think Stillwater's decision could be viewed as a sea change in the way we look at providing technology to kids. There is nothing to suggest school districts will suddenly be flush with funding to supply each student a device. Nor, based on how things have changed since Stillwater began its laptop initiative, will it necessarily be an efficient use of funds in the future.

Laptop prices are already dropping significantly, and they enjoy much increased usage in our society. Plus, ideas about how to deliver technology are changing. For instance, it may be that most things normally stored on a hard drive will, in the near future, be stored in an information "cloud," alleviating much of the need for hard drive space on an individual unit and further dropping the cost of a school-ready laptop.

Each year, school districts are finding new ways to use computers to enhance education as well as make it more efficient. We're not there yet, but I foresee a day when a laptop or compatible device, rather than something that is provided by school, will be something that goes home on a school supply list.