Chaparral Elementary School in Ladera Ranch has a rather expensive suggestion on its back-to-school supply list for students: a laptop computer.

"The laptop represents a fabulous learning tool," said Principal Kevin Rafferty, who dreamed up the plan. "The idea is to put that tool into kids' hands so they can learn 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and their learning is not restricted to the classroom."

School officials are suggesting--but not requiring--that students in third, fourth and fifth grade arrive at the newly opened school with Macintosh iBooks. Students will use the machines for homework, accessing the Internet and as a network link to the teacher's computer.

Capistrano Unified Supt. James A. Fleming said that he doesn't believe the $1,300 price will be an issue for most parents at the school, because Ladera Ranch is an upscale development where every home comes wired for high-tech use and most families already have a passion for technology.

"In the very near future, laptop computers will be as important and as common as textbooks," Fleming said. "We are at the cutting edge of a movement that we think will greatly alter the tools that are available to parents and children."

But some parents contend that the recommendation will create inequities. Though the school has purchased some Macintosh iBooks to loan to children of low-income families, those students whose parents simply choose not to buy them a computer will have to do without.

Parents also say it is unreasonable for school officials to expect an 8-year-old to keep track of the delicate machines.

"I can just see a bunch of boys lining up the laptops to make a bicycle jump out of them," said Ken Paulino, who bought an iBook for his son Kristopher. It's one of four computers the family owns. "I'm also worried about them being stolen."

Nonetheless, Paulino said he is in favor of the computer plan.

"It's a great thing," he said. "That's what the future is, and the future is here."

Many charter schools around California and the nation have made laptops available to students, and some public schools have begun offering laptop classes.

At Fort Washington Elementary School in Clovis, a public school near Fresno, Rick Hoffmann's sixth-graders pack laptops along with their books and note pads.

Most of Hoffmann's students purchase their own laptops, but the school offers loaners to those who can't afford them. Two other sixth-grade classes are taught without laptops.

"I have noticed tremendous improvement in their writing and research skills," said Hoffmann, who has taught the laptop-enhanced class for three years. "Parents have told me that often their kids can hardly wait to get home and do their homework because they can't wait to fire up their computers."