Maine Gov. Baldacci Still Pushing iBook Program for High Schools

Expansion of Maine's iBook program from 7th and 8th grade to 9th grade is not dead just yet according to this Times Record article. Gov. Baldacci has urged the state's school districts to go ahead and rent the necessary iBooks for $300 each with the promise that he will get the legislature to pay the bill when it comes due.

A plan issued Friday by the Maine Department of Education said the governor has told Education Commissioner Susan Gendron to "leave no stoned [sic] unturned" to expand the state's middle school laptop program into the high school, recognizing the state has no money for it this fiscal year.

Hopefully, the state's school districts will accept the risk to extend this highly successful program, where each student and teacher gets their own iBook and the school an AirPort wireless networking system, into high school. [Dana Baggett]