ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: JON GLASS LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
Parents, educators and community groups remain sharply divided over charter schools despite legislators' yearlong effort to find common ground.
The General Assembly is considering legislation that would let parents, teachers, business leaders and others apply to local school boards for a school ``charter.'' Such new schools would be able to experiment, free of many state regulations.
The experimental schools, approved in 19 states since 1991, are supported by Gov. George Allen's administration and by a bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers interested in testing new ways to improve public schools.
After the issue was bogged in controversy last year, legislators ordered a study. Members of the study panel said at a public hearing Monday that after an ``extensive review,'' they had devised a bill that addressed most concerns.
The bill lets local school boards decide whether to approve such schools, and to set standards they must meet to keep operating. Proponents said the schools would not siphon money from existing public schools.
``One thing I think it proved is that charter schools are not the evil demon'' some people claim, said Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, who is sponsoring the bill with Del. Paul Councill, D-Southampton County, chairman of the House Education Committee.
At Monday's hearing by Councill's committee, some speakers lauded charter schools as promoting innovation and choice, while others attacked them as undermining the existing school system.
Charter schools have been associated with Allen and with a push for government vouchers and tuition tax credits for parents of children in private schools. One supporter noted Monday, though, that even President Clinton voiced support of charter schools in his State of the Union address last week.
Some educators welcomed the idea. The Virginia Congress of Parents and Teachers also endorsed the house bill.
``We seek improvement and are not opposed to change,'' said Dianne Pettitt, chairwoman of the Chesterfield County School Board. ``This gives people with similar interests a way to initiate a grass-roots effort without requiring the system to initiate the effort.''
Most speakers who opposed the idea said charter schools would do nothing to improve public schools. They were also suspicious of proponents' motives.
Kris Amundson, a spokeswoman for the Virginia School Boards Association, said the ``biggest danger'' is that charter schools promote the ``skyboxing of America,'' in which people ``withdraw from society and associate with people just like them.''
Julie McConnell, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia, said the ``creativity and money that would be spent on a charter system should be devoted instead to innovations designed to make the public education system work for everyone.''
Paul C. Gillis, president of the Virginia State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he feared black children would be left out and relegated to a second-class education.
``We will fight this at every turn,'' Gillis said. ``You must reckon with this organization.''
Other educators said all schools, not just charter schools, should be freed from rules that are burdensome or that stifle creativity and student achievement.
``We should all be playing on the same playing field,'' said Robert V. Hall, chairman of the Henrico County School Board. ``This would be a step backward for public education in Virginia.''
William C. Bosher Jr., Virginia's superintendent of public instruction, said charter schools are ``not the salvation of public schools, nor will they destroy public schools,'' but are merely another alternative that could be available to local school districts.
An subcommittee is to make a recommendation this week.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB