More laptop computers will be available for all students in the South Butler County School District.

The school board voted Wednesday to purchase 300 Chromebooks to add to the 1,700 the district has.

The board also voted to buy the 1,400 Acer laptops it had been leasing.

The Acer buyout will cost almost $57,000.

School Superintendent David Foley said the computers will be used for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The total cost for technology needed for remote learning, which is in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, is about $400,000.

Foley said while the district can use some funds from a grant, about $80,000 of the cost will come from the district's budget.

In additional financial news from the meeting, Foley said up to $1.5 million in budget rollover funds from the current year to the 2021-22 budget must be spent on the cost incurred by the district of students who attend cyber and charter schools.

Foley said while 57 students from the district attended a third-party charter or cyber school before the pandemic, almost 100 students now attend.

“We anticipated some more, but we didn't think it was going to double,” Foley told the board.

School districts must pay cyber and charter schools for students who attend.

The district budgeted about $630,000 for the current school year in the cyber and charter school line item.

Foley said that amount already has been surpassed.

He said students with individualized education plans who attend cyber and charter schools cost the district $23,000 per year alone.

“This additional cost is something we are looking at,” Foley said.