The East Penn School District board members voted 7-2 in favor of entering a master lease purchase agreement with Apple, Inc. to acquire 550 MacBook Air laptops for teachers in the school district at a cost of $564,850.

School directors Charles Ballard and Carol Allen voted against the lease agreement.

The purchase was recommended by the technology committee and Director of Technology Michael J. Mohn said the lease purchase agreement offers the opportunity to put the same device in all teacher’s hands. The move will “streamline processes and by moving to a single platform, the department can provide technical support on one machine.”

The technology department has a budget of approximately $130,000 a year to refresh existing computers.

The district would own the laptops at the conclusion of the lease.

Director Paul Champagne was concerned the board did not have the details of the lease agreement in advance of the meeting.

“I would like to applaud Apple for buying their way into the schools,” Ballard said.

Ballard also suggested the district not proceed with the lease purchase due to the uncertainty of state funding.

“If we get into a problem with state funding, we could put our technology budget on hold. If we are in a lease, we lose the flexibility to stop payment. I can’t see locking us into a contract.”

Board President Alan Earnshaw said the district can terminate the lease without penalty and return the laptops should that happen.