Maine Learning Technology Initiative - Controversies and Unexpected Actions

Controversies and Unexpected Actions

Due to the one-size-fits-all approach, the program has created a large financial burden for many rural areas of the state. For example, the Maine School Administrative District #39, which oversees schools in the low mountains of western Maine, has had many problems with the introduction of Apple iBooks into schools. Schools in the district, including Buckfield Junior/Senior High School, had previously used PCs with a network that was “hard to integrate with Apple products without buying expensive products the district cannot afford." Another expense that the district incurred as a result of the program was the cost of hiring a new technician to solve problems outside of the repair warranty of the computers. Finally, the district does not allow students to take the laptops home after school due to the extra costs involved, including the cost of buying additional power adapters for all students and the cost of maintenance for breakage that occurs at the students’ homes.

The hardest part of the initiative for these rural districts was the fact that they were forced to integrate Apple products into formerly Windows-centered buildings. However, "as John Sculley told The Guardian newspaper in 1997: 'People talk about technology, but Apple was a marketing company. It was the marketing company of the decade.'" As a result of their marketing, persistence, and strategic relationship with the state of Maine on the initiative, Apple won the proposal and entered many schools statewide.

In 2013, Governor Paul LePage considered eliminating the MLTI, being unconvinced it was needed to grow distance learning programs in schools, and due to concerns that students were too reliant on technology. His Education Commissioner, Stephen Bowen, convinced him to maintain the program by pointing out that bulk purchases of computers saved taxpayer money, and that technology was as essential as electricity and heat. LePage also switched the computers in the program to Windows operating system-based computers, on the belief that most employers in Maine use such a system.