PORTLAND (AP) – Former Gov. Angus King, who launched the initiative that put computers on the laps of middle schoolers, announced Thursday another program aimed at eliminating the so-called digital divide: free home Internet for kids who receive free or reduced-cost school lunches.

King raised $850,000 through the Maine Learning Technology Foundation and worked with Great Works Internet to create the program aimed at placing low-income middle school students on equal footing with others who already have Internet access.

The Internet service provider also agreed to offer discounts for high-speed service for seventh- and eighth-graders and teachers who are part of the laptop program.

“It helps to realize the promise of equity that was one of the great ideas at the beginning. Now every seventh- and eighth-grader in Maine not only has access at school but also access to the Internet and all of the information it contains at home,” King said.

The program applies to all of the state’s 35,000 middle schoolers, as well as some ninth- and 10th-graders who have laptops issued to them at schools.

Great Works Internet’s dialup Internet access normally costs $19.95. Students who participate in the free or reduced lunch program would get home dialup for free, and the rest could get it for half price. The Maine Learning Technology Foundation is paying $8.33 per student under the program, King said.

Unlimited broadband Internet through GWI starts at $34.95. Students or teachers who have a laptop can sign up for broadband service for $20 to $25. Biddeford-based GWI, which serves all of Maine and part of New Hampshire, is offering broadband discounts as an in-kind contribution, he said.

It’s unclear how many students are eligible for the free Internet but it’s likely to be in the thousands because 25 percent of Maine students participate in the lunch program. The program has been in the works for 1 years, King said.

Chris Toy, principal at Freeport Middle School, said 20 percent of his 400 students would qualify for free Internet. He agreed with King that the Internet component marks another step toward ultimate goal of the original laptop program.

“One of the key pieces of that initiative was to level the playing field, so to speak,” Toy said. “This does that.”

Gov. John Baldacci has made expanding broadband access across the rural state a priority. In January, he announced a “Connect Maine” plan to ensure that 90 percent of Maine communities have broadband service by 2010.

“We’ve been pushing universal broadband and universal cell coverage. We want to be able to have Maine citizens plug in anywhere,” he said.

In Augusta, King was joined by Maine Education Commissioner Sue Gendron and Great Works Internet founder and CEO Fletcher Kittredge at the program’s formal announcement Thursday afternoon at the Cross State Office Building.

Maine’s first-in-the-nation statewide laptop program was first proposed by King in 2000. The $37 million program put laptop computers in the hands of all seventh- and eighth-graders in public schools.

Although the middle school program has been a success, it has fallen short of King’s vision of laptops for all high school students as well.

Last fall, about three dozen school districts purchased laptops for ninth-graders. This year, the state implemented a school funding formula that encourages school districts to buy laptops, but it’s unclear how many high schools have done so.

After leaving office in 2003, King has been raising private donations to expand technology in classrooms.

In addition, the popular two-term independent serves as counsel with Bernstein Shur Sawyer & Nelson in Portland, teaches at Bowdoin College and works with Leaders LLC, a Portland firm that matches buyers and sellers of Maine businesses.