ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 27, 1994                   TAG: 9403270057
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GRUNDY                                LENGTH: Long


HE'S THE KID IN THE SUIT

Meet Reid Scott.

He is a seventh-grader at P.V. Dennis Elementary School. He likes school, but not homework. He makes good grades, mostly A's and B's.

He's a fan of the Charlotte Hornets basketball team and dreams of playing sports - maybe football or basketball - when he gets to high school.

Reid, 12, already is thinking about going to college, possibly Virginia Tech or the University of Kentucky. He thinks he might want to be a lawyer like his father, but he's not sure.

Reid could be almost like any of the 1 million schoolchildren in Virginia.

Except for one thing.

He is suing the state to get more money for the state's poorest school divisions, including Buchanan County, where he lives.

Reid's name could become part of Virginia's legal history if the courts order the state to change its school funding formula to reduce the disparities between poor and rich school systems.

Reid's sisters, Morgan, 10, and Erin, 8, and eight children from six other school systems also are plaintiffs.

But the case is styled "Reid Scott, et. al., vs. Commonwealth of Virginia, et. al.," because he is the first plaintiff.

If he wins, the case might become known simply as Reid Scott vs. Commonwealth, as the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision ending school segregation is known by the legal shorthand, Brown vs. Board of Education.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Reid and the other children by their parents and the school boards for the localities.

Reid doesn't know the details of the disparity case, but he understands the reason for it. "We need more money so we can have better schools," he said.

Buchanan County is one of the state's poorest school systems, deep in the heart of coal country in far Southwest Virginia.

The disparity in funding for school divisions is apparent in Southwest and Southside Virginia, where the money spent on schools is far below the amount in wealthier localities such as those in Northern Virginia.

Buchanan County, which borders West Virginia and Kentucky, spent $4,945 per student in the 1991-92 school year, compared with $9,139 in Falls Church, $8,592 in Arlington and $8,525 in Alexandria.

State and local funding for some school systems is 2 1/2 times more per student than in others.

Buchanan County schools have fewer computers, supplies, courses, science laboratories and teachers per 1,000 students than wealthy school systems.

Some school maps are outdated and many elementary classes are large, with few teacher aides. Teacher salaries are lower than in more affluent areas.

Many of Buchanan County's schools are old, and not all have cafeterias. Reid and his sisters attend Dennis Elementary, but they must go to Grundy Junior High nearby for lunch because their school lacks a cafeteria. So many children have to use the cafeteria that some must eat as early as 10:45 a.m.

Reid's father, Tom Scott, knows the school system's financial constraints, too. He is the attorney for the School Board, but he doesn't attend all board meetings because the county can't afford it. Scott is a partner in a Grundy law firm and spends most of his time on private practice.

Reid's mother, Linda, also sees the need for more money in her job as a fifth-grade teacher at Harman Elementary School.

She said the county does not have enough funds for instructional materials, field trips and equipment. There are only one or two computers in many classrooms.

The parent-teacher associations at several elementary schools raise money to buy some needed equipment, she said.

The Scotts said they had no hesitancy about allowing their children to become plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Scott said he sees it as an opportunity to help all Buchanan County children.

When the school systems decided to sue the state two years ago, he said, Buchanan Superintendent Paul Hatfield asked him if his children could become plaintiffs. Two children from Pulaski County and two from Radford also are plaintiffs.

The other children live in Halifax and Russell counties and the cities of Petersburg and South Boston.

The plaintiffs are part of a larger group, known as the Coalition for Equity in Educational Funding, that has lobbied the General Assembly for more money to reduce the disparity.

Because it is unlikely the children and parents will have to testify, Scott said, they don't have to prepare for the case or know all the legal issues. "This case involves mainly experts and statistics," he said.

The Richmond Circuit Court ruled against the localities, but they have appealed to the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on the issue this spring.

Scott believes the localities will ultimately win their legal battle. Even if they lose, he said, they already have focused attention on the disparity issue, prompting the General Assembly to approve $103 million during its recent session to help reduce disparities.

"I think the General Assembly knows in its heart that there is a problem," Scott said.

Buchanan County will receive $1.3 million in additional state money for schools in the next two years because of the disparity bill, but that alone won't solve the problem, he said.

One of the county's most pressing needs is modern equipment for science laboratories so students can keep up with those in wealthier localities, said Joyce Presley, administrative assistant for business and finance for the school division.

"We have the textbooks and the people to teach. But we need more lab equipment and we also need more computers for our students," Presley said.

Tommy Justus, the county's director of instruction, said the school system does not have the equipment and technology to adequately prepare students who want to study communications in college.

The county also needs automated libraries and computer links between the schools, Justus said.

The course offerings are limited at several small, rural high schools with enrollments of fewer than 300 students. Consolidating the schools would make it easier to provide more courses, but there could be opposition to closing schools.

"We need a building program - to consolidate and rehabilitate some buildings," Presley said.

Justus said the county needs enough money to spend about $6,000 a year per pupil to provide what is needed in the school division - $1,055 above the spending level in 1991-92, the last year for which statistics are available.

Scott said the poorest school systems are not asking that spending for schools be the same throughout the state, but that the gap needs to be reduced.

"You're never going to be completely equal. But when you have some areas spending 2 1/2 times as much as others, you need to make them a little comparable," he said.

Scott keeps abreast of developments in the case, but he is not directly involved because a Washington, D.C., firm is representing the school divisions.

Neither Scott nor his wife grew up Buchanan County, but they like the area and have made it their home despite their concern about the school system.

Scott grew up in Portsmouth, where he said his high school had more course offerings 20 years ago than are provided now at high schools in Buchanan County.

His wife grew up in Tennessee and came to Buchanan to take the teaching job.

She works with her children to help supplement their daily instruction in schools.

The Scotts take their children on trips and send them to camps to broaden their education.

"But we have a lot of parents who can't do that. They have to rely on the school system," Linda Scott said.

Unless the state provides more money for the poorest school divisions, Tom Scott worries that the gap could widen and cause further economic decline in Southwest Virginia.

"This is the future of the county. It will help determine which way we go," he said.



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