Everything I did on the school pcs would've been just as easy and likely easier to do with Linux. Our 7 PCs were slow as hell and that was when those PCs were new.

ChromeOS flex could also be a way to go for education. You can manage them through Google admin if you have Google workspace for the district.

I don't know much about linux, but maybe try those debian stable distros (mint, ubuntu, or debian itself).

When we use linux for basic things like browsing the web, opening pdf files, editting a picture (on gimp) and so on, I don't see much of a difference on the experience.

By the way, I once installed linux on a old laptop with 2GB ram, the performance got so much better, I was even able to play simple 2D games (kingdom rush) at 60 fps, this wasn't possible on the old windows 7 it had installed.

I got a bunch of old Thinkpads for my classroom at the school i work at and installed Ubuntu on all of them. They run smooth like brand new laptops, and I have been surprised to see my students having an easier time using Ubuntu than Windows 11.

I would go for Zorin! It's based on ubuntu and quite close to the windows experience so easy for beginners!

Just put linux mint and its basically the same experiente imo. Also much safer, since now to download stuff they are going to have to rely on the graphic app store application which is much safer then downloading on the internet.