NEW ALBANY — Instead of flipping pages in books, students in New Albany-Floyd County schools might soon brush a finger across a tablet computer to read texts.

The NA-FC Consolidated School Corp. board of trustees discussed the possibility of bringing something like a 1:1 computing initiative — which puts computers in the hands of every student — to the district at their planning session June 20.

Bruce Hibbard, superintendent, said instead of supplying each student with a device, they will probably bring their own.

He said students who qualify for free or reduced lunch may have their devices supplied or discounted.

But before the district can decide on what kind of program to implement, other issues with connectivity need to be resolved.

Sal Costanzo, director of technology, said infrastructure needs like wireless access and better high speed Internet service must be addressed before any program is implemented.

Even with that, he said a proposal for a program could come as early Monday’s meeting.

“Today’s purpose is to set the stage for what we’re going to come forward to the board with in July,” Costanzo said.

David Shahroudi, an account manager with Boice.net, said other districts and schools are already adopting those programs, but NA-FC may want to consider doing the same soon.

“You’re not behind the curve now, but you kind of will be soon unless you guys think about how you want to finish out that infrastructure piece that kind of builds on dedicated fiber,” Shahroudi said.

The schools are connected with a dedicated fiber optic network. Shahroudi said with that already in place, the district is in good shape to begin laying out the rest of the infrastructure needed to support thousands of students using the same wireless network.

Costanzo said the district could be wireless-ready by the end of 2012.

Fred McWhorter, chief financial officer for the district, said funding still has to be figured out, but there are some options.

At the board’s meeting June 18, he said the possibility of a general obligation bond was brought up to help fund synthetic turf for athletic fields and also go toward technology.

He said there’s a possibility for the district to use all of that for technology and pay for infrastructure over two years.

“The opportunity is there, it’s just whether we’re willing to pull the trigger or not,” McWhorter said.

But Lee Cotner, member of the district’s board of trustees, said the bond was met with some resistance from the public when it was first brought up and he still wasn’t sure if he supported it.

“When it was presented to us, the way I got it was ‘Let’s borrow some money because we can borrow some money,’ and I don’t think that’s a good financial position,” Cotner said.

But there are opportunities for cost savings, Costanzo said. Students could download books for as little as $15 a title and retain the book rather than return it.

He also said computer labs would still have to be utilized, but a virtual desktop program — which centralizes user data and calls it up on basic terminals throughout the district — could save the district as much as $250,000 a year.

Shahroudi said whatever program the district adopts, they want to do so cautiously.

“You definitely want to phase it,” Shahroudi said. “I think when you do this, it’ll be scrutinized. You’ll get a lot of media coverage as you see, and you don’t want any hiccups in that deployment.”

Costanzo said consultants will look at wireless access throughout the district and look at different types of 1:1 initiatives, then come back with some prices at the board’s next meeting.