Utah K-12 schools adopting Google Apps across the whole state

Google has announced today that Utah’s State School Board has approved to use Google Apps for all of their K-12 schools in the entire state. Google Apps will offer the 42 school districts tools like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Chat and more to help not only teachers, but also students, to work in a more efficient manner. It has been estimated that the switch to Google Apps will save at least one school district $100,000.

Today, we’re thrilled to announce that the Utah State Board of Education has decided to begin offering support for Google Apps for Education to K-12 schools and districts across the state. The decision has the full support of the Utah Technology Coordinators Council (TCC), a group of IT professionals from Utah’s 42 school districts and other organizations that regularly advises the State Office of Education and Utah public schools on technology issues.

Utah isn’t the first state to adopt Google Apps in its schools. Colorado,Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin have also made the switch, that arguably has saved them a lot of money.

In order to get teachers trained on switching to the new technology, Utah Education Network will be holding a professional development session to any school across the state that would like to receive training on Google Apps.