ipad-books copyAfter announcing a $30 million deal with Apple last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District said that the pilot program of 31,000 iPads would grow to encompass its entire student body of 640,000 pupils by the end of 2014.

According to a report by CITEworld, the LAUSD has already begun rolling out iPads to schools, and is on track to complete a full deployment by August, just in time for the start of school. The first students to receive iPads will be those who don’t have access to computers or tablets at home already.

Microsoft also is getting in on the act, giving away free tablets to teachers and offering discounts on its Surface RT for students.

The iPads will be pre-loaded with educational software, and students will also be using them as textbooks. The district has made an agreement with educational publishing giant Pearson to provide the fleet of iPads with e-textbooks.

While the district is using public funds for the initial pilot, scaling up to its entire student body will take a massive chunk of cash. For that, it will look for private funds. Where those funds will come from is anyone’s guess.

Previously on GeekWire: Apple lands $30M iPad contract with L.A. schools despite pushback

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