LePage eyes changing laptop program launched by Angus King

Source: Bangor Daily News

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage has placed a key element of Angus King’s legacy as governor under a microscope by ordering a sweeping review of a taxpayer-funded program that provides thousands of computer devices to Maine students.

No changes have been finalized, according to Department of Education officials, who said virtually anything is possible for the program’s future.

King, an independent U.S. senator who served as governor from 1994-2002, launched the Maine Learning Technology Initiative in 2002. Since then, it has provided laptop computers or computer tablets to every seventh- and eighth-grade student in Maine, plus a range of other students in districts that have voluntarily expanded the program at their own cost.

The program equips approximately 66,000 students and teachers with computers and tablets, with some 95 percent of the devices coming from Apple Corp.

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Read more: https://bangordailynews.com/2016/08/12/politics/state-house/lepage-eyes-changing-laptop-program-launched-by-angus-king/