THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701250348
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Staff writers Warren Fiske, David M. Poole, Elizabeth Simpson
and Jane Evans, and The Associated Press, contributed to this report
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 140 lines
For the second straight year, a bill to create charter schools in Virginia died Friday on a tie vote in the House Education Committee.
The Virginia NAACP led opposition to proposed public schools that would be supported by taxpayers but not subject to all state policies and regulations. The civil rights group argued that the plan could open the door for school segregation.
``I'm elated that this dangerous legislation has been defeated,'' said Salim Khalfani, spokesman for the state NAACP.
Advocates of the bill said charter schools would create much-needed competition in public education that would result in improved learning. Twenty-five states have some form of charter schools.
The bill's sponsor, Republican Del. Phillip A. Hamilton of Newport News, denied that the schools create a discriminatory climate. He said minorities are 48 percent of the students attending charter schools in Massachusetts.
Hamilton was angry at the NAACP after the defeat and said he may not introduce the bill again next year. ``I'm not sure I have the perseverance to be called a racist one more time,'' he said.
The bill failed on a largely partisan vote, with Republicans favoring the measure and 11 of 13 Democrats on the panel opposing it.
Khalani, noting that Republicans may be on the verge of winning a General Assembly majority, predicted that the bill will one day be passed.
``That's probably the reality,'' he said. ``It's unfortunate. We wish people would spend their energy improving the public schools we already have.''
Local delegates who sit on the committee - Republicans Frank W. Wagner and Robert Tata of Virginia Beach, and Democrat J. Paul Councill Jr. of Franklin - voted yes.
ALSO FRIDAY Managed-care findings spark partisan bickering
An independent study concluded that the cost of the managed-care program for state employees will exceed revenues by $40 million over the next 18 months.
The study unleashed a torrent of accusations between Democratic lawmakers and the administration of Republican Gov. George F. Allen.
Democrats accused Allen of mismanaging the Key Advantage insurance program and trying to conceal the scope of the problem from the public.
``Were they hoping to ride this out until George Allen leaves office, so he could deposit this crisis on the next governor's doorstep?'' asked House Democratic Leader C. Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County.
Saying Key Advantage is on solid footing, Allen's top financial advisers accused Democrats of manufacturing a crisis.
``No state employee needs to lose sleep over whether their claims will be paid in the future,'' said Mike Thomas, Allen's secretary of administration.
Allen officials say the $40 million shortfall predicted by Foster Higgins & Co., a Washington-based actuary, was not based on audited financial statements and may overstate the potential problem.
Attorney General James S. Gilmore III said he supports a constitutional amendment guaranteeing parents the right to raise their children as they see fit.
Gilmore, the likely Republican nominee for governor this year, had been silent on the issue, which has broad GOP support.
Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., the probable Democratic nominee for governor, opposes the amendment. He says it could give parents ammunition to challenge laws on child abuse, immunization and compulsory school attendance.
The Senate, which is evenly divided with 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans, is scheduled to vote on the measure Monday. As president of the Senate, Beyer would break any tie vote.
A bill giving the General Assembly final authority over school accreditation standards - instead of the State Board of Education - cleared a House of Delegates committee Friday. The Education Committee voted 18-3 to send the bill to the House floor.
The bill reflects discontent among legislators, including some Republicans, with the ideological bent of the state board, which is dominated by conservatives appointed by GOP Gov. George Allen.
The accreditation standards include such items as graduation requirements and the number of guidance counselors schools must have.
NOTICED & NOTED
In S.C., lawmakers cling to their controversial flag
This week, the South Carolina House refused to remove the Confederate battle flag from atop the Statehouse dome, spurning Gov. David Beasley's call to transfer the banner to a nearby monument.
The Republican-led House voted 72-45 to defeat Beasley's proposal, instead sending the issue to a special statewide election in November.
The legislature raised the flag in Columbia in 1962 to honor the Civil War's centennial, and then never took it down. Critics say it is racially divisive and a symbol of the Civil War.
For the record, flying atop Virginia's dome in the Capitol designed by Thomas Jefferson, are the American flag and the state flag. When the Senate or House of Delegates is in session, a state flag flies above the chambers (which are in the wings). The flag is lowered at the session's adjournment but continues to fly if the session is in recess.
Citizens may buy a state flag that has flown over the Capitol by making a request through their delegate or senator.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
``Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.''
- Del. A. Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke, on the General Assembly's reluctance to finance an Urban Partnership initiative helping urban areas
WHAT'S NEXT
Coming up: a crunch week. As lawmakers approach ``crossover,'' when proposed laws must finish up in one house and move to the other chamber, committees work overtime and floor sessions expand.
Extra hours begin today, with House committees scheduled to meet and a floor session at 3 p.m.
Also today, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Daniel J. Boorstin will address the Virginia General Assembly quadrennial commemorative session, Hall of the House of Burgesses at the Capitol in Colonial Williamsburg.
GETTING INVOLVED
Parents, volunteers and professionals concerned with the well-being of young people will convene in Richmond Monday for Child Advocacy Day. Activities will begin at 7 a.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which is across from Capitol Square. After presentations on children's issues, participants will go to the Capitol at 11 a.m. to lobby specific legislators.
Child Advocacy Day is sponsored by the Action Alliance for Virginia's Children and Youth, a statewide advocacy organization. For more information, call the Action Alliance at 804-649-0184.
Monday is Catholic Advocacy Day. Church members will deliver their message to legislators that the needs of poor and vulnerable people are moral priorities. Participants will meet at St. Peter's Church on Grace Street, a couple blocks west of the Capitol, at 9:30 a.m. ILLUSTRATION: Tata
Councill
Wagner
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY