THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070318
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER AND JON GLASS, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
Educators were jubilant Monday about legislators' plans to reject an estimated $70 million in reductions to colleges and public schools, saying politicians and the public finally have gotten the message that education can bear no more cuts.
On Sunday, the House and Senate money committees submitted budget plans for 1995-96 that would undo nearly every education cut proposed by Gov. George F. Allen - eliminating everything from restructuring penalties for universities such as Norfolk State to reductions in funding for high school dropout prevention.
``In the overall sense, the tide has turned in favor of higher education,'' Old Dominion University's president, James V. Koch, said Monday. ``It's certainly a different environment than I've dealt with in the last few years.''
Local school officials, facing tight budgets, began breathing easier.
``We're at the point in our budgetary process where a few hundred thousand dollars could make a tremendous difference,'' said Norfolk Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr., whose district would have lost more than $800,000 under the governor's plan. ``At this point, I feel relieved.''
The battle, though, is far from over. Allen still can veto budget items approved by the full General Assembly. The legislature would need a two-thirds vote to override a veto.
``I don't think anybody knows the reaction the governor's likely to have,'' said John J. McGlennon, a government professor at the College of William and Mary. ``But I'd really be surprised if he leaves the legislature's budget alone. I think he's dug his heels in on certain things, and there's going to be an opportunity for him to say, `I'm only going to go so far.' ''
On the other hand, McGlennon said, legislators took away a major justification for the education reductions when they rejected a tax cut last week. If the governor tries to push many of the education cuts, McGlennon said, he might appear to be acting simply to punish colleges and schools.
Ken Stroupe, Allen's press secretary, said Monday that the college reductions were aimed mostly at pruning programs that ``did not necessarily advance the academic missions of the colleges.'' But he said the administration had not decided whether to pursue the issue.
McGlennon said support for education funding by three ex-governors - two of them Republicans - and Til Hazel, the chairman of the Virginia Business-Higher Education Council, was important in getting the money restored.
``These are classic examples of people who don't have the reputation for supporting profligate spending saying this was something very important for the future of the commonwealth,'' McGlennon said.
In higher education, the Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees knocked down nearly all the cuts sought by Allen - totaling $47 million - and they added a couple of bonuses.
Both committees, for instance, voted to eliminate $5.6 million in restructuring penalties for six universities - including a $1.2 million deduction for NSU and $700,000 for Christopher Newport - whose reorganization plans were not approved before Allen's deadline last year.
NSU would also win back $700,000 Allen wants to cut in aid to graduate programs in social work and physics. That $1.9 million would stave off any faculty layoffs in high-enrollment areas, President Harrison B. Wilson said Monday.
ODU is also feeling relief. It didn't face major cuts in Allen's plan but was lobbying to restore up to $3.6 million in cuts for 1995-96 that had been approved by legislators last year.
The Senate panel voted to allot an additional $1.5 million in general funds for ODU and $600,000 for its Teletechnet program beaming courses across Virginia. The House committee supported adding $1.6 million for Teletechnet.
Koch said he hoped the legislature would follow the Senate panel's approach. ``We love Teletechnet, but we can't run Teletechnet if our home campus is not prospering,'' he said.
With an extra $1.5 million, ODU probably would avoid widespread layoffs or departmental closings - measures that Koch last fall said were possible. ``We'd still be struggling, but that would take the sharp edge off it,'' he said.
The legislative money committees preserved about $20 million that Allen had proposed axing from public schools. That includes $10.5 million for dropout prevention programs and $3 million for maintenance - the ``big money we were worried about,'' Nichols said.
Both the House and Senate committees also would protect funds for English as a second language, school community health centers and anticipated enrollment losses.
``We will not have to decline or degradate our services in any degree,'' said Mordecai L. Smith, director of business and finance at Virginia Beach schools, which stood to lose just over $1 million, the most of any South Hampton Roads district.
But the House and Senate budgets differ. The House committee, for example, opted to cut the additional $2.9 million Allen had slotted for ``at-risk'' students; the Senate left in the money. Also, the Senate did not include money for AVID, a college-preparatory program for minority students offered in three Norfolk schools.
In a new initiative, the Senate approved $47 million over the next five years to pay for technology equipment in schools. Local districts would have to match 15 percent of the state Literary Fund grants, but South Hampton Roads would get a sizeable chunk: $2.3 million in Virginia Beach, $1.5 million in Norfolk, $1.1 million in Chesapeake, $682,828 in Portsmouth and $416,430 in Suffolk.
The funds would outfit elementary schools with central library media centers, already in place for the state's middle and high schools, and put the infrastructure in place to allow all of the state's schools to ``network'' via computers.
While protecting many of the programs the governor hoped to eliminate, legislators slashed several of Allen's budget initiatives, including $500,000 to help establish charter schools.
Democratic legislators defended their moves to stymie the governor's budget, acknowledging the risks involved.
``By doing it we are the ones putting our necks on the line,'' said Sen. Elliot S. Schewel, D-Lynchburg. ``But there's no question in my mind that we did the right thing for the state.'' ILLUSTRATION: James V. Koch, Old Dominion University president
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY BUDGET EDUCATION by CNB