Quite honestly, those kids will get more technology education out of using 15 year old linux machines or slow as hell raspberry pis than the eternal distraction machine that is a modern laptop wired to the internet and youtube/tiktok/instagram.
The real problem is that chromebooks are designed to run web applications which you rely on and which have become more bloated over time.
The real question is what are the students supposed to learn on those laptops? Is it how to type? Use Google Docs? How to program?
A Chromebook has sufficient hardware to do all that. Heck, a 20 year old laptop is sufficient for doing that.
I'm 37, and remember learning how to type on wildly out-of-date Apple II machines in the mid 90s.
All 3 "Is it how to type? Use Google Docs? How to program?". You nailed it. In addition to being comfortable taking state exams on.
I used to do a deep dive on settings and browser extensions until IT locked the devices down further. The kids can't even access settings. But I give them credit for finding work arounds, ways to get past restrictions.
I think the problem here is relying on Google docs.
The absolute best programmers today got started on command line. You can linux command line on a literal potato. There are vape pens that have more computing power than what I grew up learning on in the late 90s.
You're students need less distractions not more. Even the most powerful AI applications like Claude Code run in CLI.
You can absolutely learn how to program on a $17 raspberry pi zero w connected to an old monitor and keyboard nowadays. Its not about the hardware, it's about what you do with it.