According to the Boston Globe, Maine has signed a $41 million contract with Apple Computer, Inc. to provide new laptop computers to more than 30,000 seventh- and eighth-graders and their teachers, extending the state's laptop program for another four years.

Apple will equip 32,000 students and 4,000 teachers with iBook notebook computers and upgraded wireless networks. The four-year contract also includes professional development for each of Maine's 241 public middle schools.

The total number of laptops in Maine public schools this fall will number more than 70,000. Maine was the first state to equip students statewide with laptops, and officials say the initiative remains the biggest of its kind in the nation.

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