Program maintenance funds elusive

Maine’s program for providing laptop computers to seventh- and eighth-graders has funding, but what happens after that is unclear.

The state originally had an appropriation of $50 million that was supposed to be the foundation for an endowment, but it was cut to $30 million last year. And Gov. Angus King has proposed another cut of $5 million.

That means there is not enough money for an endowment, so another large appropriation would be needed down the road if the program is to be expanded into Maine’s high schools, King said.

But King believes that it would take only $7 million a year to maintain the program if it were instituted in both middle schools and high schools. That’s half of 1 percent of the state’s overall education budget.

The initial contract is a coup for Apple, which is battling Dell and other computer companies for market share in the education market, said Daniel Kunstler, an analyst with J.P. Morgan in New York.

If paid out as a lump sum, the $37.2 million contract would amount to roughly 10 percent of Apple’s typical quarterly revenues, he said.