Well, I'd have both OSes at a school. While the CSRs and network admins will hate you for it--I think both OSes provides the healthiest learning environment.
Every kid is different. Some get things quick, some don't. Personally, I think you should just make the resources available to the students, and then let them decide what they want.
That will be more informative to you about whether or not its a good idea. If you put in Linux machines, and none of the kids use them--then take them out and say its not worth it.
If you put them and Windows almost never gets used, then take the Windows machines out. Trying Open Source is really very cheap. For an entire school district, you could probably have one or two Linux guys set everything up for you within a month or two.