In his quest to cut billions of dollars from California’s widening budget deficit, Arnold Schwarzenegger is leading the charge for the Twitter generation with a promise to replace costly and “outdated” school text books with digital devices.

The state is poised to become the first in the US to abandon printed textbooks, going well beyond current adoptions of online learning materials. Mr Schwarzenegger, state governor, said the move could save up to $350m (€247m, £217m) a year.