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Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Will laptop expansion be deleted?
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Against a backdrop of budget turmoil, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron is seeking to sell state lawmakers on her proposal for tapping into a renovation fund to jump-start an expansion of the state's laptop computer program. Gendron's proposal would free lawmakers from new spending this year while getting wireless infrastructure in place and 22,000 laptops in the hands of ninth graders, teachers and administrators next fall at the state's 160 high schools and vocational schools. But she'll face tough questions when the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee questions her today. Sen. Neria Douglass, co-chairman of the education panel, said she's concerned about the message that laptop spending would be sending about priorities as lawmakers deal with the prospect of massive Medicaid cuts, which drew 1,000 people to a public hearing Monday at the Augusta Civic Center. "We just finished difficult reduction in a lot of our programs. Not paying for people's dentures, and then to pay for laptops, is a problem," said Douglass, D-Auburn, referring to cuts in Medicaid payments. Now in its second year, Maine's first-in-the-nation program put computers on the laps of more than 30,000 seventh- and eighth-graders in all 241 public middle schools across the state. The program - originally envisioned as including high schools - has received high marks from teachers, students and parents. Researchers and educators report that students are more engaged in their work, and current eighth-graders don't want to see the project end when they start high school next fall. "It would be really hard to adjust to not having laptops," said Eliza Bryant, a student at Freeport Middle School. "We've had them for two years. People have started taking them for granted." To expand the program next fall, Gendron's proposal would tap the revolving renovation fund established by former Gov. Angus King. After that, she has proposed a cost-sharing formula in which the state would pick up 55 percent of the tab. Local school districts would have to pay the remaining 45 percent to participate as the program expanded during the following three years to include 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders. The Education Committee is divided between those who want to see the laptop program expanded and those who fear the cost. Douglass and others also want assurances that school renovation and construction won't languish. Gendron said the Education Department already has begun negotiations with Apple, which provided the iBooks to middle schools. She envisions a similar four-year contract for high schools that would work out to $300 per student per year. That figure includes insurance, wireless networks, support and professional development. Superintendents generally support the plan, even though it means they'll have to cut into their own budgets to help pay for it. They gave Gendron a standing ovation last month when she announced plans to take the laptop program into high schools. "Most superintendents are scrutinizing that budget to make sure it all works," said Stan Sawyer, superintendent in Westbrook. Although it may seem that Gendron's proposal is coming at the 11th hour, it was necessary to have a body of research supporting laptops to convince lawmakers it was worthy of more spending, education officials say. Among those who are thrilled about Gendron's proposal is the man who hatched the laptop idea: King, who is continuing private fund-raising efforts on Baldacci's behalf. "It has proven its effectiveness. It's no longer a concept. It's a successful reality," the former governor said.
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