California Going Bookless

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced plans to phase out school textbooks in favor of digital learning aids.

The measure will allow California schoolchildren to ditch traditional math and science textbooks for digital versions later this year, the (Terminator) Governor told schoolchildren in Sacramento.

"The textbooks are outdated, as far as I'm concerned, and there's no reason why our schools should have our students lug around these antiquated and heavy and expensive textbooks."

California is the first state in the United States to introduce such an initiative. The move comes as Schwarzenegger looks to slash spending across a range of sectors in a bid to narrow California's projected 24 billion dollar budget deficit.

With the average price of a school textbook coming in it around 100 dollars, Schwarzenegger said initial savings from the plan would be between 300-400 million dollars. If the scheme was widened to cover more subjects, hundreds of millions more would be trimmed from the annual budget, he said. Next, some namby pamby organization will be asking for a tax increase to pay for the PCs to read the digital books.