High school laptop plan gets panel’s OK

AUGUSTA – The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee has given a lukewarm endorsement to the plan to extend the state’s laptop program into high schools.

The committee this week voted 7-6 to recommend that the Appropriations Committee include the proposal in the governor’s $160 million supplemental budget package now under discussion.

In a report submitted to the appropriations panel Thursday, the education committee “recommended” approval of the laptop proposal.

The state introduced laptops into seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms two years ago. Under the current proposal, the Department of Education would be required to expand the Maine Learning Technology Initiative by entering into a lease agreement with a laptop vendor to supply computers to the state’s high schools.

Rep. Gerald M. Davis, R-Falmouth, joined with six Democrats, including committee co-chairs Sen. Neria Douglass, D-Auburn, and Rep. Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, in support of the laptop proposal.

Two Democrats, Reps. Rosita Gagne-Friel of Buckfield and Jonathan Thomas of Orono, crossed the aisle to vote with committee Republicans in opposition to the expansion.

The laptop issue was addressed by the committee during a public hearing early in the week. While members voiced support for the concept of laptops in the classroom, they struggled with expanding the program because of the present financial climate.

“It’s well-known that I was initially against the concept [of laptops for middle school pupils], but I have become a convert,” Rep. Mary Black Andrews, R-York, told her colleagues during the hearing.

Despite that conversion, Andrews voted against the expansion proposal.

Some members expressed concerns about the Department of Education’s proposed method of financing the estimated $75 million program. Others stated their reluctance to saddle future legislatures with the long-term cost of continuing the program.

DOE Commissioner Susan Gendron has recommended taking $8 million from the state’s Revolving (school) Renovation Fund to get the initial program started by covering the cost to schools of wireless networks.

Beginning in fiscal year 2006, the department would include 55 percent of the cost of the computers within its annual general-purpose aid to local school districts. The remaining 45 percent of the cost would be borne by the individual school districts. Gendron told the committee that she believed there was enough money in existing federal special education grants to cover the local share.

Sen. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, questioned the wisdom of tying the cost of the project to general-purpose aid subsidies to local districts. Brennan noted that Maine voters have yet to act on the Maine Municipal Association proposal known as Question A that, if passed, would commit the state to paying 55 percent of education costs. Brennan said he was concerned there might not be enough revenues left to fund the laptop commitment should the MMA proposal win voter approval.

The education committee initially had requested a separate bill to address the laptop issue, but members informed their peers on appropriations that they had “reconsidered” their stance and agreed that the laptop issue should be included in the supplemental budget.

The education committee acknowledged that it was “divided” over the matter of using the Revolving Renovation Fund to purchase technology infrastructure and suggested that the Legislature “must first approve the lease-purchase proposal” before authorizing Commissioner Gendron to tap into that fund.

Though members agreed that the expansion had the potential to create “a One Maine phenomenon” by providing equal access to all students and teachers, they cautioned that “soft costs” might be hidden in the proposal. They suggested that the DOE commissioner “must address” that situation when formulating the lease-purchase agreement.