I see iPads (class 7 to 13, german school system) very positive. Let me just point out 3 aspects:

My students can really work with book or materials (make a photo, then annotate, cut, copy paste, extend the pages ...)

It added a lot to how I teach (make a podcast, produce videos, simulate, ...)

And as parent: I was more than happy when my son had (for the first time) all learning materials together in one place and not scattered in bags, on the bed, in the school locker...

Let me assure you from personal experience that iPads can (used right) contribute to better education.

I have seen tons of university students taking note on their iPad with a pencil. Felt like a legit usage: read the course material on the iPad instead of printing everything, annotate PDFs, take notes.

Back in my days we were printing the slides and annotating (sometimes) them. That was a big waste of paper.

I was issued an iPad in high school in like 2014. Even then, they were distracting. We all played games on them. They did have some benefits, though. They ensured that every kid consistently had a small, portable, fairly rugged device to take home so that they could take online quizzes, write essays, do digital homework assignments, do research or reading assignments, scan paper documents, do video assignments, check schedules and announcements, etc., all without requiring parents to spend hundreds of dollars on devices for their kids.

Our school district uses Lenovo laptops and Microsoft for everything. My daughter couldn't do her homework yesterday b/c of the Microsoft outage. They use teams for absolutely everything.

I'm not a parent and none of my friends are. what's the benefit they're supposed to be providing?

Is it just grading and parental access?

It isn't for learning, it's for spying. Edutech in American schools are very much into surveillance.

All it takes is two decades of relentless lobbying by some of the richest companies in history