New York is America’s fifth-largest state by population, and soon enough, most or all of the individuals who attend school there will be put in touch with Google.  Google announced this morning that Google Apps has secured New York state as another partner.

This is a big, big step for Google.  Previous arrangements concerning Google Apps and school systems only involved Oregon (the 27th-largest state by population), Iowa (30th), Colorado (22nd), and Maryland (19th), introducing a total of about eight million students and teachers to Google Apps to date.

In contrast, a post on the Official Google Blog described the fresh development as "a new K-12 initiative that will bring powerful communication and collaboration tools to the more than 3.1 million students and hundreds of thousands of teachers throughout New York state."

Then, by way of explanation, the post continued, "New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), in partnership with the New York State Teacher Centers and associated Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), the New York State teacher unions and New York State professional organizations, will offer Google Apps access, training and support to 697 public school districts, as well as all non-public and charter schools, across New York."

Unfortunately, neither Google nor anyone representing New York estimated how much money this move might save the school system, but in any event, this could act as a catalyst for getting other states to embrace Google Apps.

Going by population, Texas and California are probably Google’s main two targets.