I'd use the $40 for an
Amazon gift card. She's immediately going to want to buy books and so forth to download to her new toy.
Also, unless you wouldn't be upset about her ruining her Kindle, budget in a protective case. It seems that all the adult Kindle readers I know have cases, whereas kids don't use them . . . and I know several kids who've ruined their Kindles through carelesness. A good case could've prevented these tragedies. Our school
isn't doing this yet, but the concept is being tested in a number of nearby schools.
I think you have the concept twisted a bit:
"It's not you must bring your own technology because we're not providing anything". Rather, it's "You may bring your own technology, if you own it and are more comfortable using an item with which you're familiar." Schools are adding iPad carts, netbook carts, etc. at a rapid rate. Schools are opening up to the idea of allowing students to bring their own novels on e-readers, iPads, or smart phones. But many students prefer to use their own stuff, and bringing their own means that they don't have to share or have access for half the class period.
Teachers HATE this whole idea. First, there's the blatant fact that our teens aren't nearly so tech-saavy as they (and their parents) think they are, and we're not all prepared to trouble-shoot half a dozen different electronic gadgets (of varying ages and models); it's much easier for us to use an iPad cart, where everyone has the very same items -- and ahead of time we can run through the lesson on THE MACHINE that every student will use. Then, although we cannot be responsible for what kids have in their bookbags, it's going to come out being our fault when Susie's iPad disappears from her backpack while she goes to the restroom or when Johnny's iPhone is taken from his desk while he is returning a book to the back shelf. Also, we can't monitor it. If I take my class to the computer lab, the computers are set up so that all the screens are visible -- I can see if someone's made it through the firescreen to something inappropriate. In contast, I cannot be everywhere in a room with 35 kids, so I'll never know if the kid in the back is surfing Facebook instead of reading the learn-your-state-capitals website to which I've directed him. When he sees me heading towards the back, he can easily click in and out of the appropriate website.
Personally, if we do move to this system at our school, I won't allow my daughter to bring my iPad to school. I trust her entirely, but I can't expect her to be anything except 15 years old. An iPad is a highly steal-able item, and it only takes a moment for another kid with nepharious intentions to distract her for a moment -- she is naive enough to think it's okay to leave an expensive item on her desk while she walks to the teacher's desk. I'm not willing to put myself in the position of being without it, nor her in the position of feeling awful for having lost it.