ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702170052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Democrats who took Gov. George Allen to task for refusing federal Goals 2000 education money rejected legislation Sunday intended by Allen to make Virginia eligible for federal charter schools grants.
On an 8-7 party-line vote, the Senate Education and Health Committee killed the Republican governor's bill authorizing every local school board to create up to two of the semi-independent schools. The panel then voted to appoint a subcommittee to study the issue for a year.
The committee also endorsed two of three bills aimed at weakening the powers of Allen-appointed education board members.
Allen submitted the charter schools bill Friday. President Clinton has proposed $100 million in federal funding for the schools, which are freed of some regulations in exchange for high student performance. Allen claimed Virginia could get up to $30 million over three years.
Some Democrats said Allen's bill was more about politics than education.
``This is an 11th-hour political maneuver to save face after the governor's political embarrassment over Goals 2000,'' Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, said after the committee's vote.
Allen announced last month that his concerns over possible federal meddling in state education matters had been eliminated, and he would apply for the Goals 2000 funds.
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley said Saturday that Virginia probably could qualify for only about half as much charter school funding as the Allen administration estimated.
Still, charter school supporters said Virginia should compete for its share. Otherwise, the money will go to other states - as Goals 2000 money did.
Allen's bill said charter schools cannot be religious schools, but several committee members said they were concerned that there was no restriction on what type of group could apply for a charter.
Organizations representing public school superintendents and school boards opposed the bill. Robert Hall of the Henrico County School Board said localities already have a lot of flexibility to create high-achieving schools.
State Secretary of Education Beverly Sgro emphasized that the legislation would not require school boards to create charter schools. ``It's a local choice, and that's the way it should be,'' she said.
Allen's bill was nearly identical to one sponsored by Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, killed by a House committee earlier in the session. Hamilton later tried to revive the proposal as a budget amendment but was voted down by Democrats.
``I was surprised by the partisan nature'' of the committee vote, Hamilton said. ``I wouldn't have expected that going in.''
He noted that Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Beyer has said he supports charter schools as long as they are truly public, and the top Democrat of them all - Clinton - favors the concept.
In two other 8-7 party-line votes, the committee endorsed bills to reshape the State Council of Higher Education and to delay for a year the new public school accreditation standards being developed by the State Board of Education. Both boards are dominated by Allen appointees.
Del. Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, proposed replacing the higher education board members with six members appointed by the governor and five by the legislature. All board members are now appointed by the governor.
Diamonstein said the legislature is not getting the kind of ``independent advice'' it needs from the board to make decisions about the state's colleges.
The accreditation delay was sought by Del. Kenneth Plum, D-Fairfax County, who said school administrators and school boards fear they will not have time to prepare for sweeping changes they expect the Board of Education to announce later this month.
Committee members agreed with Plum but rejected Fairfax County Republican Del. James Dillard's proposal to give the General Assembly the final say on accreditation standards. Those standards cover such items as graduation requirements and the ratio of counselors to students.
``This is meddlesome at its worst degree,'' Houck said before the committee voted 10-5 to kill the measure.
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB