The Charleston County School Board gave unanimous consent Monday to give every student in two schools iPads this fall in an effort to study whether it's a cost-effective and worthwhile investment to do the same for every student in the district.

Only one school board member, Mary Ann Taylor, initially voiced opposition to the district's proposal, but she ultimately voted in favor of it because she said it seemed like a good idea. School board member Toya Green was absent.

"We believe that the investment will come back many-fold in terms of the ability of our children to accelerate their achievement and be prepared in a digital-driven world, which demands the ability to interact with technology," said Mike Bobby, the district's chief financial officer.

Drayton Hall Elementary in West Ashley will receive the new devices, as well as one yet-to-be-named school that officials said likely would enroll mostly high-poverty students. Any of the remaining nearly 2,500 iPads would be dispersed to various groups of students at schools across the district.

School leaders plan to study the implementation for one year to see whether it affects student achievement and saves money, and they also will look at the technological supports that would be needed to expand the iPads to every school.

They'll spend $2.1 million on the project, and the money will be reallocated from an existing classroom modernization fund. Those dollars are part of a capital budget, which is separate from the district's operating budget and can't be used to help with the budget shortfall, or to pay teachers' salaries.

Taylor said at the beginning of the discussion that she didn't want to expand the iPads beyond the three Drayton Hall Elementary classrooms that are using them now because the iPad already is being updated and because the district already had spent a significant amount of money on computers. She also said it could hinder students' social interaction.

School administrators countered that there always would be a newer version of technology in the works, so they would be waiting indefinitely to make the purchase. They also said the majority of computers that have been bought have been for teachers, not students.

"I think balance is key," Bobby said. "This doesn't replace social interaction, but it does enhance the differentiation of instruction."

Board member Elizabeth Kandrac, a former teacher at the now shuttered Brentwood Middle, said her students loved going to the computer lab and would call it "playing" on the computer, even when they were doing programs that taught them the information they needed to learn.

"I've never heard any student say, 'Let's go play with a textbook,' " she said. "They'll call it playing, but they're learning. That's the best way to have a child learn."

School board member Chris Collins made another plug for the board to buy itself iPads, but no motion was made to do so. The board majority decided two weeks ago not to give itself iPads.

The board did not make any decision on its operating budget for next year, although Bobby said it would need to decide sooner rather than later whether it wants to increase class sizes or institute furlough days for teachers. If the board doesn't want to raise taxes -- and it likely wouldn't support that -- he said it would have to consider one of those options to cover its deficit, which is now estimated at $9 million.