AUGUSTA – The Education Committee has recommended that the laptop program for middle school students be extended for another four years at a state cost of $10 million per year.

The committee on Wednesday voted 8-4 to recommend that the Appropriations Committee include the laptop program, or Maine Learning Technology Initiative, in its supplemental budget for the 2007 fiscal year.

The committee reached its decision after hearing about the overwhelming popularity of the four-year-old program, according to a recent survey of students, teachers and principals. Department of Education officials also spoke glowingly of the program.

“We believe it is helping student achievement,” Education Commissioner Susan A. Gendron said of the program.

The laptop recommendation will be included in the education department’s $42 million supplemental budget request for the coming year. That appropriation will enable the department to meet its goal of funding 50 percent of the overall cost of kindergarten-12 education.

Under the department’s laptop proposal all seventh and eighth grade students will receive new laptops over the next four years. The department also plans to purchase the existing, 33,000 4-year old laptops for $1.6 million and offer them for sale to the schools for use in other grades. The used laptops will cost around $40 apiece.

Dr. David Silvernail, director of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern Maine said the survey involved 16,000 students, 1,103 teachers and 207 school principals. He said the results were strong in every category, particularly when it related to providing students with 21st century learning skills.

The survey found convincing evidence that the laptop program allowed teachers to customize their teaching and curriculum and help the students achieve the standards demanded by Maine Learning Results. It also found that students were more motivated to learn with laptops, were learning more and learning more deeply.

“The teachers perceptions are very accurate as to what is happening with their students,” Silvernail told the committee. “Scores were significantly higher for students using laptops.”

Although no one on the committee doubted the significance of technology in the classroom, Sen. Karl Tuner, R-Cumberland, said he opposed extending the program at this time because he believed the older laptops could be used for a few more years.

“I don’t think it’s compelling, at least for me,” Turner said of the program.

Betty Manchester, director of the laptop program, said Maine was recognized around the world as the leader in classroom technology. She said numerous states and foreign countries have visited the state to learn about the program. Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois and Michigan are in the process of instituting similar programs. New York, Texas and all the New England states have instituted pilot programs, she said.

“As Maine goes so goes the rest of the nation. We are the leaders in one-to-one technology,” said Manchester. “This has been an incredible opportunity for the teachers and students of Maine but we’re also on the world stage.”

Rep. Connie Goldman, D-Cape Elizabeth, said she initially was “lukewarm” to the program, but after watching it mature she became convinced that it would ultimately make a difference.

“One hundred years ago putting a blackboard in every classroom was considered cutting-edge technology,” said Goldman. “It is no longer just handing kids tools. This is the kind of effort it takes to really make a difference.”

On another front, the committee voted 6-5 against a proposal to shift the $4 million needed to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers to $30,000 from the local assessment account. Members said they preferred to address the minimum salary issue when they take up legislation that deals with the subject as proposed by Committee Chair Sen. Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro.

“It’s a huge issue with all kinds of implications,” Rep. Edward Finch, D-Fairfield, said of the minimum salary. “I don’t believe this is the proper way to do it.”