PORTLAND (AP) – Several school superintendents expressed interest Wednesday in the Baldacci administration’s new proposal to get laptop computers in the high schools but warned that they cannot get the job done without state funding.

With no legislative authorization to expand the laptop program from middle school, the Baldacci administration is working on a proposal in which school districts could rent laptops from Apple at a low rate negotiated by the state.

The idea is to get laptops into at least some high schools this fall, with payments being deferred for a year.

But school superintendents fear that the Legislature could leave them hanging without any help down the road, especially with two statewide tax reform questions coming up for votes in June and November.

And there’s no way the proposal could succeed, several said, unless Education Commissioner Susan Gendron uses $8 million from a renovation fund to pay for the wireless infrastructure in high schools.

Bangor Superintendent Robert Ervin said the problem is that school districts – poor districts in particular – need a promise of state support.

“My answer is not show me the money’ but show me some money.’ You can’t expect local school systems to pick up this very significant expense without some pledge from the state,” Ervin said.

In Jay, Superintendent Robert Wall said he already has put his budget to rest for the coming year.

But he said he supports the laptop computer program and would like to find a way to make it work. He said there needs to be a conservative approach given all of the budget uncertainties.

“I’m a proponent of technology in schools,” Wall said. “I’m also a pragmatist.”

The proposal came after the Legislature ended its special session without taking up Gov. John Baldacci’s proposal for expanding the laptop computer program from middle schools into high schools.

The proposal is receiving the most serious consideration out of four options being reviewed by Baldacci.

Without an expansion, the laptop computers remain only in the hands of more than 30,000 seventh- and eighth-graders in 241 public middle schools across the state in two phases in 2002 and 2003.

The state originally proposed a cost-sharing formula with the state paying 55 percent of the cost and local school districts paying 45 percent, in addition to paying for the wireless networks.

Dale Douglass, executive director of the Maine School Management Association, said it should come as no surprise that superintendents are wary about putting themselves on the line with so many unanswered questions.

“While there are a lot of people who are enthusiastic … you are going to see an awful lot of caution until the details are unveiled,” he said.

In Portland, the state’s largest school district, the discussions are moot: the city is not in a position to expand laptops into high schools unless it is fully funded, said Superintendent Mary Jo O’Connor.

Portland eliminated 58 positions last year and cut $2 million from the budget, so there’s no room for laptops, she said.

“No, we can’t afford it. Yes, we think it’s fabulous. Beyond the no and the yes, I’d welcome some sort of a conversation around the state and local level on does this model make sense at the state level.”

AP-ES-05-05-04 1735EDT