The burden of carrying heavy textbooks may be over for the students of Dallas and Selma County. Dallas County Schools and the Selma City Schools are considering transitioning from standard hard copy textbooks to online textbooks, also known as e-textbooks.

The decision for Alabama schools to transform to a more digital form of learning was initiated in 2012 when Alabama lawmakers Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, and Rep. Kim McClendon, R-Springville, sponsored the Alabama Ahead Act.

The bill, which was passed in 2012, prepared a board with the ability to equip the state’s school districts with money to buy electronic devices for all of their students.

The Alabama Ahead Act permits the board to issue as much as $100 million in bonds to pay for the project.

Don Willingham, interim superintendent of education for Dallas County Schools, said the school system doesn’t have enough take-home books for the students right now.

“We have enough textbooks,” Willingham said. “It’s just that they are classrooms sets. There are not enough to be able to take them home.”

The switch to digital copies is ideal for both school systems, but a lot must be considered in order for the school systems to follow through with the proposal.

For instance, they must consider if the change to a digital version of textbooks would actually be cheaper.

“We are studying it and trying to see how cost effective it will be,” Willingham said. “Once you have download [an e-textbook], there usually is a fee tied to it. It’s not a one-time purchase.”

In the case e-textbooks do cost less, the schools would then make sure each student has access to a computer, Willingham said.

He said starting in January, students will receive laptops as a part of their new initiative.

“It’s a huge step, but we need to do it if we are going to compete globally,” Willingham said.

He said the initiative would allow educators to identify and solve issues that arise with laptops.

“Once that is done, we can seriously start considering the transition,” Willingham said.”

Gerald Shirley, the superintendent of Selma City Schools, said the Selma City Schools lack in both in-class textbooks and take-home textbooks.

“The average textbook is about $80, and history and sciences tends to be more,” Shirley said.

In the event the city system decides to transition to e-textbooks, it would supply students with iPads. He said it would make it easier for the students to have the books available on a digital device.

“Instead of carrying them around, they can load all of them,” Shirley said. “They can have everything on an iPad.”

Shirley said the online textbooks may be able to save them as much as $75,000 over a 3-year period, when you consider the durability of the electronic equipment.

He said the biggest disadvantage to the possible transition is the likelihood of devices being lost or damaged.

Willingham said if Dallas County does go through with the change to e-textbooks, it would be sometime before it is fully completed.

“It will be a little bit down the road, not years and years, but not something that will happen right away,“ Willingham said.