AUBURN — Yes, U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, plans to seek a second term in 2018.

He’s most proud of establishing the laptop program, getting to his children’s sports games while governor, and being a positive governor and U.S. senator.

And, King told Edward Little High School students Monday via Skype that solar energy has a big future in Maine.

More than 200 students got a government lesson from King, delivered live via Skype to the high school gym. After giving them an overview of what a senator does, King took questions.

One student asked about solar energy. King predicted solar energy is going to be huge in Maine.

Some people think Maine is too far north to get sufficient energy from the sun. “But we’re on the same latitude as southern France. We’re not England and Norway. We’re much further south,” he said.

So far, the problem with solar has been the price, but it’s coming down, King said. 

Twenty-five or 30 years ago, 1 watt of solar produced on roofs used to cost $70. “Now it’s $3.60,” King said. “It’s still high, but once it gets down to around $2, which I think it will, it’s going to be a huge deal in Maine and elsewhere.”

Samantha Weekley asked what led him as governor to start the laptop program for schoolchildren. King said it started with budget forecasters telling him a $70 million surplus was coming, money that wasn’t expected.

King said he wanted to do something transformative for Maine. Experts told him laptops could be powerful in education if it was one laptop for every student. After consulting with experts, he proposed laptops for each seventh-grader in Maine.

“It was hugely controversial,” King said. “One legislator told me it was clear-cutting, gay marriage and abortion all rolled into one.” Despite objections from state lawmakers, “it was passed and funded. You guys take it for granted. But in 2000, this was a radical idea.”

Today, the program provides laptop statewide to seventh- and eighth-graders.

There’s a lot of bad stuff on the Internet, King said. “Part of what you’re learning is to separate the good from the bad, how not to waste much time on games or other things, how to use it for a tool for learning and education.”

On balance, King said, laptops have been positive. They’re part of the routine in education in Maine, he said. “My advice to you guys: Don’t break ’em.”

In answering student Brittany Wood’s question about what he’s most proud of, King said he’s pleased he took time to get to the sports games of his children Ben and Molly when he was governor.

As a governor and a senator, part of his job is “to give Maine people some positive hope and excitement about the state,” he said. “Attitude is everything.”

Maine needs to be positive, he said. When people feel optimistic, “good things start to happen. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Taylor Depot asked about him running for a second term. King said he intends to run again, but 2018 is a ways off.

When politicians think about how every action will play out in polls, it can be paralyzing. “My philosophy is to make the best decision I can,” and hope people will give him credit for trying, “even if they’re not happy with me.”

Another student asked how being a U.S. senator is different than being governor.

As governor, “you can’t do things by yourself, you need the legislature,” King said. “But you can set the agenda. You have the bully pulpit.” In Washington, “I’m one of a committee of 535 — 435 in the House, 100 in Senate. I can’t have the same impact.”

But he deals with issues at the highest levels, meeting with the president, the secretary of state, dealing with the CIA, education policy and highway funds. “When you’re part of Iran nuclear negotiations and hopefully it comes out good, that’s pretty cool,” he said.

In answer to other questions, King said he doesn’t think Maine’s system of concealed weapon permits should change. “That’s not a compromise of Second Amendment rights, that’s just public safety common sense,” he said.

Several students asked about high taxes in Maine. High taxes aren’t keeping out-of-staters away, King said. In fact, “Maine is a cheap date” with low meals and lodging taxes compared to other tourist destinations.

Because Maine is a desirable place to live with the ocean and mountains within easy reach, and because people can work where they live, Maine stands to do well economically, he predicted. “The nice places to live are going to win, and that’s Maine.”

King asked students a question: Which do they like better, iPads or laptops?

More students answered laptops.

“Because you can do more with them?” King asked. Yes, they said.

King told students iPads can only do 80 percent of what laptops can do, but they’re less expensive to taxpayers.

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