Preserving the vision

It has been less than a year since Gov. Angus King proposed giving laptop computers to all Maine seventh-graders. Though initially opposed by every just about lawmaker whose grandpa didn’t have a laptop when he was a kid, the governor’s deft negotiating kept the bold idea alive. In the hands of the Task Force on the Maine Learning and Technology Endowment that resulted from the maneuvering, it has, at least in some important ways, thrived.

The task force presents its final report to the Legislature this week. The committee of 17 legislators, educators and persons with expertise in technology, business and finance have taken what last March was a vision and turned it into a workable plan, a vision fleshed out. The challenge now is to keep lawmakers from gutting it.

The improvements offered by the Task Force astutely address some of the more legitimate concerns expressed about the governor’s original proposal. Using what are called mid-clients – simpler machines that must be connected to a network to fully function – instead of full-blown laptop computers lowers purchasing and repair costs and reduces the likelihood of theft.

Tying use of the machines to the school and library network essentially eliminates the concern about students accessing inappropriate material, such as pornography and hate sites, and about the state unfairly harming commercial Internet providers. Keeping the machines school property, instead of giving them to students, removes the objections to a ”give-away” and establishes computers as the 21st century equivalent of the school-owned textbook.

The plan calls for interest earned by the $50 million endowment to buy enough machines for use by all seventh- and eighth-graders over two years, beginning in 2002. This is a significant change from Gov. King’s initial proposal to have students get a laptop in the seventh grade and keep it through high school. For those students who won’t have a computer once they move up to high school, it is an unfortunate change, but one driven in part by reality – the investment climate is less robust than a year ago, a $50 million endowment just doesn’t generate as much income.

The task force, however, is careful to point out, clearly and unequivocally, that middle school is just the starting point: If learning and achievement improve as every credible study on the daily integration of technology into education strongly suggests they will, this project should be expanded to high school.

There are now many lawmakers who see that $50 million endowment as one-fourth of the solution to Maine’s $200 million gap between planned spending and anticipated revenue, the result of the last legislature’s poor planning and lack of focus. Before the notion of raiding the endowment takes too firm a grip and the entire project is scaled down to ineffectuality, the Legislature should consider two principles that guided the task force in developing this plan: Hands-on, daily access to technology provides equity in educational opportunity for students from economically disadvantaged families or communities; it is an excellent way all regions of the state can enjoy economic prosperity. The technology endowment was created to fulfill a vision, it must not be used to fill a revenue gap caused by shortsightedness.