ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 20, 1996 TAG: 9602200062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
General Assembly Democrats said Monday they are keeping their campaign promise to boost education spending in the state budget, while Republican critics said the pledges have fallen flat.
Democrats toured the state in a school bus last fall promising to restore Virginia's financial commitment to education. The Democrat-stacked Senate Finance and House of Delegates Appropriations committees on Sunday recommended spending millions more on the state's primary, secondary and public university system than suggested by Republican Gov. George Allen.
In a jubilant rally Monday outside the state Capitol, Democratic leaders said they are following through on their campaign pledge.
``At the midpoint of this session, we are keeping our promises, and we shall continue to do so,'' said House Speaker Thomas Moss of Norfolk.
But the budget amendments don't come close to meeting the Democrats' lavish promises, said Joint Republican Caucus director J. Scott Leake.
For example, he said, Democrats on the campaign trail pledged to spend $65 million over two years to reduce class sizes in kindergarten through third grade. But the House and Senate budgets include only $18.1 million and $16.1 million for the programs, respectively.
``That's probably the most egregious example of failing to fulfill the promise,'' Leake said.
Allen, however, was much more conciliatory.
He said legislators must do more work to come up with their version of the $34.6 billion, two-year budget, but said with a few exceptions the amendments are mostly in keeping with what he originally proposed.
One amendment he opposes is the House panel's proposal to scale back an Allen-backed student testing program and pay a portion of the cost with $6.7 million in federal Goals 2000 money. Allen has refused to accept the money, contending the federal government would try to dictate how the funds are spent.
Allen did some bragging of his own Monday, announcing he has surpassed his 1993 campaign goal of creating 125,000 new jobs in Virginia by more than 25,000.
``That's just dandy,'' he said of the Democrats' rally. ``I'm here to tell you I kept my campaign promise.''
The House panel recommended spending $180 million more than Allen proposed on higher education, while the Senate panel suggested $156 million. Allen's proposed budget called for spending a total of about $7 billion over two years for higher education, about $265 million more than in the previous biennium.
But many of the Democrats' spending increases are based on bond sales and unconfirmed new revenue. For example, the House committee's budget amendments rely heavily on money from a proposed $175 million payment to the state by Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Under a plan pending before the State Corporation Commission, the health insurer would be allowed to convert to a for-profit company in exchange for repaying the state money it earned in tax breaks for many years.
When Allen released his budget late last year, some Democrats criticized him for relying on $95 million of the Trigon money. Allen said Monday he found it a bit ironic that the House panel now wants to use it all.
The Senate panel was more conservative. It wants to take $35 million of the payment for a foundation to benefit medical research at public and private universities.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Beyer defended the proposed budget amendments, saying they lay the groundwork for education improvements that would be made over the next few years.
He also said the Trigon arrangement is virtually a done deal, but the legislature could come back and rework the budget if state regulators don't approve it.
The budget still must be passed by each house. Then, House and Senate conferees must reconcile their plans.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB