AUGUSTA – Calling laptops a “transformational learning tool,” the State Board of Education on Wednesday issued a statement “strongly” urging the Legislature to approve expanding the wireless computer program into Maine’s high schools.

“Current seventh- and eighth-grade students have clearly demonstrated the transformational nature of this laptop as a learning tool. The loss of this tool as they move into high school would be devastating,” according to the statement, which Chairman Jean Gulliver said would be presented to the Legislature and Gov. John Baldacci that day.

Board members decided unanimously to draft the document after Susan Gendron, commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, told them during their regular meeting that their input could help sway lawmakers who recently had decided not to include the laptop initiative as part of the state budget.

“Businesses are looking at us, waiting to see what we’re going to do,” said Gendron, updating the board on the status of the laptop legislation.

“No other state is doing this. [The laptops] will become a leverage tool for economic development,” she said, noting that she has been invited to Ireland to discuss the laptop project. “They’re looking at us as a leader in the world.”

Adding to the benefits of the laptops, Deputy Commissioner Patrick Phillips said they “show real promise” in helping students achieve the Learning Results, the state’s academic standards.

Noting that data show students who have special needs or who have been “unengaged or struggling” have benefited the most from the laptops, the board said in the statement it was concerned that wealthier districts could decide to continue the laptop initiative on their own, thus “creating a significant digital divide between those communities that can afford state-of-the-art learning tools and those that cannot.”

The laptops provide Maine with a “unique opportunity to increase the skills of its students, who represent our future work force and who will be our future taxpayers,” the statement continued.

Given that Gendron’s proposal doesn’t affect funding for other programs in the coming fiscal year, that the proposed contract with Apple Computer is “favorable” at $300 per laptop, and that the state already has invested millions of dollars in developing the program, it would be “fiscally irresponsible” to abandon the initiative, according to the statement.

Communities have a variety of funding sources with which to participate in the program – such as federal and local funds as well as increased state support to education, the statement noted. “Commissioner Gendron is committed to ensuring that the state provides a percentage for each district that is equal to the state share of local education costs, with a minimum of 55 percent of the cost to all districts,” it said.

After the meeting Gulliver said she was optimistic that the endorsement would improve the chances of the laptop initiative’s inclusion in the budget. “Given the data, the public support and the critical nature of the program to current and future students, this program needs to be continued,” she said.

Likening the laptop program to an “orphaned child … hoping to be adopted,” Deputy Commissioner Phillips said later that the statement captures “many of the compelling reasons” why Maine’s lawmakers should move the program forward.