ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NEWBERN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
A COALITION OF RURAL SCHOOL systems renewed its push Wednesday for more state funding.
Pulaski County School Superintendent Bill Asbury held up a state map Wednesday that showed that all but a few, affluent Virginia counties will get less state education money next year, as things now stand.
"This is disgraceful," he said. "We ought to scream bloody murder as a community."
Asbury is treasurer of Virginians for Improved Education, which held simultaneous news conferences in Bristol, Petersburg, Portsmouth, Woodbridge and at Newbern Elementary School, urging residents to ask their state legislators to make education funding a priority.
Real estate values are among factors that determine how much state money a locality gets for education. Because those values dropped in Northern Virginia and rose in many other places, most localities will get less state aid while a few, more prosperous, areas get more, he said.
Virginians for Improved Education began as a coalition of mostly rural school districts that claimed that educational funding disparities were unconstitutional. But the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 1994 that the Constitution requires only that the state provide a free education and live up to its standards of quality.
The coalition is pursuing what it calls "leveling up," or getting the state to increase total funding for education so the neediest school districts can come closer to having the kinds of educational opportunities the top ones have.
As of now, the neediest divisions will get less state support next year - some $400,000 less, in Pulaski County's case. These are the school systems already plagued with inferior facilities, inadequate instructional materials, bigger classes and lower teacher salaries, Asbury said.
"Looking at this map, it looks like, if you all formed a coalition, you could vote this down," said Alma Holston, a member of Pulaski Town Council and legislative assistant to state Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle.
But that is not the case, said Del. Tommy Baker, R-Pulaski County. Legislative representation is based on population, which is heaviest in Northern Virginia, the Richmond suburbs and the Tidewater area, where the more affluent school divisions are located.
"The geography looks good," Baker said. "We could beat 'em if we had ground we could throw at 'em." But, even though the territory is bigger, the population is smaller, he said.
In that case, asked Scott Brandau, a parent among some 40 people attending the Newbern conference, how can legislators from those areas be influenced? "We can write all the letters in the world to you, and that's not going to change their minds," he said.
Baker recommended making the public aware of the situation, as the coalition is now doing - seeking supplementary education money again from the General Assembly, and working for a constitutional amendment requiring more aid to less-affluent areas. The coalition will distribute to all state legislators videotapes making its argument.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB