Lt. Gov. Quinn logs in at City Hall with a laptop ordinance for kids

Chicago Public Schools could be flooded in laptops with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn's unconventional plunge into City Hall.

Quinn said he will meet with Mayor Daley's chief of staff, Lori Healey, on Friday to discuss Quinn's proposed Children's Low-Cost Laptop Ordinance. He submitted the ordinance to the City Council earlier this week.

"It [the laptop] engages them. They are digital children," Quinn said in an interview Wednesday. "Our kids born today, they are going to be digital in the 21st century, so we should have digital learning. I see the laptops as textbooks for the 21st century."

Funding for the estimated $3-6 million program isn't defined in the ordinance.

However, the ordinance proposes a Children's Low-Cost Laptop Fund to purchase the computers, accessories, support staff and training for teachers. The goal of the programs is to provide 15,000 laptops, to be distributed equally among Chicago's 50 wards.

"We were originally hoping that we could divert some of the amusement tax that's levied on live performances," said Jen Hoelzle, director of intergovernmental affairs for the Lt. Governor's office.

"The City Council has a much better idea of how they can afford this but, with laptops becoming very cheap, low-cost laptops are a great alternative to text books," Hoelzle said.

"The Lt. Gov has long been trying to get laptops into elementary schools," she said. She added that the reason Quinn chose Chicago simply because the city is unique in that the municipal code allows citizens to submit ordinances.

The state government offers education grants to purchase computers, but the grants restrict the computers to full-powered, full-price, Macs or PCs

Sharnell Jackson, director of E-Learning for the Chicago Public Schools, said that purchasing low-cost laptops would allow schools to stretch funds farther. "If they [the state] provided us with some alternatives," Jackson said, "we could buy some low-cost mobile laptops. I would be able to spread those [computer] dollars three times."

The new ordinance doesn't specify what kinds of laptops should be purchased, only that the laptops must cost less than $400 a piece.

Jackson emphasized that she focuses on "engaging and motivating students to learn" no matter what kind of technology is available.

Hoelzle said that Quinn has worked with Nicolas Negroponte to promote the mission of the One Laptop per Child Foundation. Negroponte is a former MIT professor who founded The One Laptop per Child to develop the XO laptop, an inexpensive rugged, kid-friendly laptop that would be affordable throughout the world.

Quinn pointed to the Forest Park Public School District 91 as a success story for bringing laptops in classrooms. Forest Park recently purchased 100 low-cost XO laptops for each of their fifth graders.

"We now have the laptops in our classrooms," said Lou Cavallo, Forest Park School District superintendent. "We have them setup and our students are using them for all kinds of educational purposes."

Forest Park participated in the One Laptop per Child's Get One, Give One program which provided a laptop to a child in a developing country for each laptop the school district bought. This program will connect the students in other countries with the students in Forest Park.

Cavallo said that the laptops are not as good for educational software as other computers, but they do have some innovative applications.

"Our students are learning problem solving techniques by using these laptops," he said.