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 into the state’s 160 high schools and vocational schools.

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.

But she’ll be facing tough questions when the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee questions her about her plan on Tuesday.

Sen. Neria Douglass, co-chair of the education panel, said she’s concerned about the message laptop spending would be sending about priorities as lawmakers deal with the prospect of massive Medicaid cuts, which drew hundreds of 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 in two phases in 2002 and 2003.

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 the current class of 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.”

Gendron’s proposal would tap the revolving renovation fund established by former Gov. Angus King to get the program going next fall.

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 over 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 price tag. 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 her 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,” added Stan Sawyer, superintendent in Westbrook.

While 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.