\In extremely bad news for iPads that further solidifies the product’s increasing decline in classrooms, the Maine Department of Education is reportedly working directly with Apple to replace iPads for MacBooks.

The exchange has been sought after following a state-wide survey that revealed both teachers and students found the tablets to have little educational value.

"The findings come after an extensive survey of students and teachers in grades 7 through 12, according tothe Lewiston Sun Journal. Some 89 percent of teachers and 74 percent of students said that laptops would be a better choice,” said Apple Insider.

"To help facilitate the switch — called a ‘Refresh'— Apple has agreed to lower the lease payments for its laptops. For the 2016-2017 academic year the computers will cost just $217 per student, increasing to $248 per student per year after that.”

Teachers allegedly referred to the roll-out of iPads in the state’s districts as a “disaster,” which is not the first time a roll-out of the product has been referred to as disastrous.

In 2013, Los Angeles Unified School District famously failed at implementing a $1 billion initiative to provide iPads to every student.

Just a week into implementation, LAUSD officials weren’t pleased to find out that students could easily manipulate the devices to use them to browse freely on the web for non-educational purposes.

Problems such as this have led school districts to increasingly choose alternatives to iPads for student-use, partly responsible for the surge of the Chromebook’s popularity in the K-12 setting.

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Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor