AUGUSTA – Gov. Angus King’s laptop proposal has moved one step closer to fruition with the announcement that the Maine Department of Education has selected Apple Computer Inc. to provide portable, wireless computers to all seventh-graders next fall and to seventh- and eighth-graders the year after.

Apple’s bid includes the latest version of full-blown iBook laptops, as well as a basic software package, connection to the wireless network, warranties, repair and replacement services, and technical training for $300 per user per year.

Apple’s Web site listed the cost of an iBook at $1,299 to $1,699 Monday.

State officials previously had talked about providing students only with scaled-down “slim client” laptops that cannot operate without being connected to the school network.

Even as some state lawmakers talk about using the money in the laptop fund for other purposes, the department will begin negotiations with Apple to complete the terms of the agreement, department spokesman Yellow Light Breen said Monday.

“If we can close this deal, the state is getting a lot for its money,” Breen said. “This is a comprehensive request, not a buy-the-computer-and-walk-away type situation. We wanted someone to be an active partner with us over a four-year period.”

The $30 million Maine Learning and Technology Endowment, which was created earlier this year, is supposed to guarantee the program for four to six years. Another $15 million in private funds must be raised by January 2003 so the initiative can include high school students and go forward indefinitely, Breen said.

Officials selected Apple from three front-runners that included MindSurf, which is affiliated with Sylvan Learning Centers, and NetSchools, a Georgia company. After analyzing the written proposals, the team visited schools using those companies.

Breen said he wasn’t surprised that Apple came out on top during the competitive process.

“They have been a key player in the education market for many years,” he said, pointing out that Piscataquis Community Middle School in Guilford uses Apple iBooks in its much-publicized laptop program.

The “iBook is a pretty powerful and versatile tool … in terms of being interactive and doing lots of different kinds of presentations and constructing movies and graphics,” he said.

Besides analyzing a company’s network and technical support, the team looked at its reliability, experience and commitment, Breen said.

Providing computers to 241 schools “is a pretty challenging project in terms of scale and timing. It may be the biggest educational deployment of portable computers in America and maybe the world,” he said.

Breen said the computers would come with a case and be “relatively small, lightweight, portable machines … with a familiar laptop kind of look.”

The award is subject to successful negotiation of an agreement, as well as a 15-day appeal process for the losing bidders, Breen said.

One detail that doesn’t have much wiggle room is the cost. The department set $300 per user per year as the maximum price, Breen said. While seventh-graders will use the laptops for four years, eighth-graders will have them for three years. That averages out to just over $1,000 per user for the life of the contract.

“Apple said that was the price it could meet, and as they negotiate the final contract, we’ll hold them to that,” Breen said.

The game plan is to provide computers to seventh grades at eight demonstration sites across the state by late February, Breen said. The rest of the classes would get their machines in August or September.

But a number of issues are up in the air.

Teachers still are contemplating exactly how they will use the computers.

And some legislators are eyeing the laptop fund as a way to relieve the budget shortfall.

For his part, Breen knows the endowment may not survive intact, but he remains optimistic that at least part of the initiative will be a go.

“The governor has said publicly that when facing a large deficit, everything is on the table,” Breen said. “One option is that the endowment will have to contribute its fair share to balancing the budget. Our view is that we can move forward with the seventh and eighth grades and still balance the budget.”

Breen said he didn’t see any problem raising the $15 million in private funds because Maine has attracted national attention with its plan.