EXCHANGE PROGRAM WILL SHOW HOW STATE'S `OTHER HALF' LIVES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 8, 1993                   TAG: 9303080029
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
EXCHANGE PROGRAM WILL SHOW HOW STATE'S `OTHER HALF' LIVES
Under an exchange program sponsored by the General Assembly, high school students from affluent Fairfax County will trade places with students from rural Southwest Virginia.
About 25 Fairfax County students will switch places with students from four poor, rural counties straddling the Blue Ridge Mountains. Local government and business leaders from each community will accompany them.
The idea for the exchange arose last year in a conversation between Del. Thomas Jackson, D-Hillsville, who represents Bland and Wythe counties, the city of Galax and portions of Carroll and Grayson counties, and Del. Linda Puller, D-Mount Vernon.
They had been talking about disparities in school funding between rich and poor areas and decided they needed to know more about each other's regions, Jackson said.
"It's hard for us to understand a billion-dollar county budget or an area with $181 million in transportation needs," Jackson said, referring to a bill signed into law last week by Gov. Douglas Wilder that provides for a $181 million bond issue to finance three Fairfax County road and subway projects.
Jackson said it would be good to see Tysons Corner, the traffic-congested shopping center and office park area in Fairfax County.
People from the richer portions of the state think localities in his area can levy higher property taxes to increase school budgets, he said, adding that they are unable to do so.
In Carroll County, the average teacher salary is $27,215. In Fairfax, it is $39,973. Carroll spent $4,500 per pupil in the 1990-91 school year. Fairfax spent $6,600.
Between 20 percent and 40 percent of the students in the four counties go on to college, including two-year community colleges, Jackson said. More than half in Fairfax go on to college.
By the same token, Puller said, "We need people from the rural area of the state to understand that Fairfax is not all upper middle-class, wealthy people. There has been an influx of immigrants in recent years, and we are expecting more over the next 10 to 20 years."
She plans to take the rural Virginians to a Fairfax elementary school, where one room has been set aside to hold donated shoes and clothing for pupils who can't afford them, Puller said.
Jackson said he also expected the Southwest Virginia group would be led into one of Northern Virginia's infamous traffic jams.
The two legislators have been working with state education officials to help make arrangements for the week-long trip, which likely will take place in late April or early May.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB