The LA School District embarked on a rather sizable mission back in 2013 when it gave out iPads to its students, however the program was marred with controversy and the school district officially put an end to it back in December of 2014. Now it seems that because their plans had been cancelled, they are seeking a refund on their purchases from Apple.
According to a report from the LA Times, they obtained a letter sent from the LAUSD to Apple which reads in part that they “will not accept or compensate Apple for new deliveries of [Pearson] curriculum.” It also states that the district will not pay for further services that might be related to the Pearson product.
The letter also reads that the LAUSD wants to meet this month to arrange “the dissociation from Pearson and recoup the costs of Pearson licenses that we paid for but have been unable to use.” Apple has yet to comment on the issue. For those unfamiliar, the LA School District’s initiative had cost $1.3 billion.
In that initiative, approximately $768 was paid per iPad in which $200 of it was meant to be used towards a three-year license for math and English curriculums from Pearson that was also supposed to help replace the textbook and other learning tools. However there were technical and quality issues with the software which led to it being largely unused, thus leading to the end of the program and now the LAUSD seeking for a refund.