ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602120038
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: JON GLASS LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
Republicans assume control of the Virginia Board of Education this month, giving GOP Gov. George Allen a chance to leave his mark on a state school system he says has spent billions of dollars but failed to produce better-educated children.
With the appointment of two high-profile Republicans last month, Allen has hand-picked seven of the nine board members who set the course for Virginia's public schools.
``Improving the education system is part and parcel of the governor's economic development plan to increase jobs and bring industry to the state,'' Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe said. ``We spend approximately $6 billion every two years on education, and I think taxpayers deserve to know what they're getting.''
Joining the board are Portsmouth native Kay Coles James, and Robert H. Patterson Jr. James is a favorite of Christian conservatives and has a national reputation for her views on family issues. Patterson is a high-powered Richmond lawyer who has helped state-supported Virginia Military Institute defend its males-only policy before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The new majority's philosophy reflects Allen's view that schools should focus more teaching time on basic academic subjects, and the standard should be raised for student achievement.
A key goal of the Allen board is to hold schools accountable for how well they uphold new standards in four core areas: math, science, social studies and English.
Members of the new majority also agree that less government is better. They say they intend to eliminate any education regulation they can that doesn't contribute to the academic mission.
Many of them also contend parents should have more of a voice in their children's education, such as requiring schools to get parental permission before kids participate in sex education or counseling programs.
And they say they want to see greater school choice, including experimental charter schools, which they contend would stimulate healthy competition and encourage innovation.
There aren't any shrinking violets among them. When board member Michelle Easton went to Washington in 1981 to work for then-President Ronald Reagan, her goal was to help him in the unsuccessful effort to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
Fifteen years later, Easton, outspoken in her conservative views, is at the forefront of the attempt to overhaul Virginia's schools.
Easton, vice president of the board, has a good chance of being chosen president by fellow board members this month.
``I think we need to look at how time is being spent and how funds are being spent, all in relation to how we can improve academic achievement,'' Easton said. ``I think this board will reflect the views of the majority of Virginia's taxpayers and parents.''
Joe Guarino of Newport News, executive director of Citizens for Excellence in Education, agrees. ``I believe we will see parents' rights upheld more frequently and less intervention by Richmond,'' he said. The group is devoted to ``restoring academic excellence, godly morals and traditional values to the classrooms.''
Easton and other board members acknowledge they may clash with members of the state's education establishment, whom the Allen administration views as defenders of the status quo. Some Allen backers derisively refer to them as ``educrats.''
Educators, though, say they support high standards and don't mind being held accountable. But many say they are underappreciated and think Allen has painted them with too broad a brush when he criticizes the public school system.
Robley Jones, president of the Virginia Education Association, says teachers may sound defensive because of the administration's approach. ``Teachers have felt very shut out of the process.''
Easton and her colleagues say they are not out to unhinge the system or to punish underperforming schools, but they do not mind shaking it up - all to benefit children.
``I am not going to be an advocate of the education establishment or a political ideology. My intention is to be an advocate for the children of Virginia,'' said James, who stepped down in December as Allen's secretary of health and human resources. She was named dean of Regent University's Robertson School of Government in early February.
``Controversy is not bad in and of itself - what you are seeing is a debate of ideas and philosophy, and that's good,'' she said.
Board member Lillian Tuttle, a Midlothian parent who formed a grass-roots group called Academics First several years ago, says she favors giving schools more flexibility to boost student achievement.
Many schools and teachers, she says, are stymied by regulations that have nothing to do with improving a child's education. Tuttle says she would like to strike a bargain with schools: Remove some of the burdensome rules in exchange for greater accountability for student performance.
``It's not one thing; it's just thousands of things the state has involved itself in,'' Tuttle said. ``We regulate the number of books in a school library, but not the quality of the books, whether they relate to science or math or history.
``We make principals write vehicular traffic plans, when maybe that time would be better spent talking to teachers or looking at students who aren't making it and getting them up to grade level.''
Although the debate over public schools has spawned ideological battles nationwide, board members say they hope to keep politics out of the equation. They note that Democrats and Republicans on the board have united behind the issues of tougher standards and accountability.
The board has been divided over social issues, such as the role of sex education or school counselors, and governmental philosophy, such as the federal Goals 2000 program, which Allen viewed as an attempt to dictate to states what schools should teach.
Peter Decker Jr., a Norfolk lawyer and one of the two Democrats remaining on the board, says there is no doubt that Allen's agenda will advance with less difficulty. But the verdict on that remains out, he says.
``I'm not saying it's good or bad. It might even be better,'' Decker said. ``I'm in hopes that the only agenda is the children, and politics be damned.''
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