ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 23, 1996 TAG: 9611250164
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
Joining the crowd of lawmakers setting up education issues as Virginia's next priority, Gov. George Allen announced a program Friday designed to help local governments build new schools.
Allen pitched the plan as a solution to the state's $150 million backlog of school renovation and construction requests. It would allow local school systems to borrow money for things like buses, computer wiring and lighting - not just long-term construction.
The plan also would eliminate the 10-percent reserve the state creates when it borrows to build schools, allowing more of the money to be used for construction.
The impact on Virginia's schools could vary.
Allen said the plan could help local governments finance $200 million a year of the more than $6 billion in overdue projects around the state. And his superintendent of public instruction, Richard LaPointe, called it "the single greatest school construction initiative in the history of the commonwealth."
But local governments would still bear the burden of repaying the loans. And the plan makes little new money available, but rather allows governments to do more with the money they borrow.
"Will it address every need? Maybe not," Allen said. "But it's a step in the right direction."
Parts of the plan require approval by the General Assembly, which could be laden with several new education proposals in the upcoming gubernatorial election year.
During his afternoon announcement, Allen offered the temporary classrooms at Chesapeake's Great Bridge High School as an example of the state's school construction needs.
"There are students taking courses in trailers,'' he said.
Chesapeake Superintendent Randolph Nichols said his 35,000-student district was forced to use portable classrooms because of its high growth rate.
``We are growing at a rate of one new elementary school a year. Any expansion of the VPSA borrowing program will greatly assist a growing division like ours,'' Nichols said.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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