
DATE: Monday, November 17, 1997             TAG: 9711170059

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER AND LEDYARD KING, STAFF WRITERS 

                                            LENGTH:  156 lines

SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL CHOICE IS BUILDING; CHARTER SCHOOLS, VOUCHERS ARE WEIGHED

Momentum is swelling for ``school choice'' in Virginia, and the reform that's building the most steam is charter schools.

Increasingly, politicians and parents are weighing options ranging from the creation of charter schools - independently operated schools let loose from some state regulations - to the offering of private school vouchers.

This week, officials will debate the reforms at meetings of the state Board of Education and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

Both vouchers and charter schools are branches of the choice movement, which proponents say would give parents more, and better, options for schooling and create competition to shake up mediocre schools. Opponents say the reforms could cripple public education.

But politicians and analysts say that charter schools, for years bottled up in legislative committees, stand a much better chance of approval than vouchers during next year's legislative session.

The reason? Charter schools are a known quantity, already running in 30 states, that has gained bipartisan support. Vouchers have generated more furor than action, posing dilemmas such as church-state entanglement.

Last year, the House Education Committee killed a charter-schools bill on an 11-11 vote. One of the few Democratic supporters was the committee's chairman, Del. J. Paul Councill Jr. of Franklin.

``If we had to take the same vote today, I think it would come out of committee,'' Councill said.

Like other charter-school supporters of both parties, Councill is no fan of vouchers, believing that ``would be subsidizing private schools with taxpayer money. I would think charter schools have a much better chance. I don't think Virginia is ready for vouchers.''

Among the signs of increasing support for school reform:

Gov.-elect James S. Gilmore III repeatedly mentioned during the campaign his openness to consider vouchers.

The state Commission on the Future of Public Education, a panel made up primarily of Democrats, the party that has blocked the creation of charter schools in Virginia, issued a report Thursday advocating them. The commission will hold a public hearing at 7 tonight at Bethel High School in Hampton.

In Northern Virginia, Loudoun County's Board of Supervisors will vote Wednesday on a tax-credit proposal, a variant of a voucher. Families that home-school their children or send them to private schools would get a credit of up to $1,250 per child.

The State Board of Education's meeting Monday will feature a discussion on ``school choice.'' The board has no power to OK the models - that rests with the General Assembly and Gilmore - but board President Michelle Easton said it is time to push the debate.

``Virginia is so far ahead of so many states in so many areas,'' said Easton, an advocate of all the proposals. ``But when it comes to parental choice of schools, we're dragging a little.''

Yet, unlike Easton, many Republican supporters of charter schools have little enthusiasm for vouchers or tax credits. Del. Phillip A. Hamilton of Newport News, the leading House proponent of charter schools, is one. ``When you get into vouchers and tax credits, then you're taking tax dollars'' from public schools, he said.

The U.S. government estimates that there are 750 charter schools in 30 states, including North Carolina, and the District of Columbia. Here's how they work:

Charter schools can be operated by a traditional principal, a group of teachers, parents - whoever signs the charter with the school district. The schools are exempted from some state regulations.

With the new leadership and reduced regulatory burden, supporters say, will come innovative ideas that other schools can copy.

Others aren't so sure. ``When it's 180 out from what the state is requiring, that's when your problems come up,'' said Shirley George, president of the Education Association of Norfolk.

Charter-school advocates say they want to keep the schools under the state Standards of Quality, governing staffing, and the Standards of Learning for curriculum.

For years, legislative committees killed the plan. Advocates say that's due to confusion about the concept, opposition from some black leaders and support from Gov. George F. Allen. ``I think a lot of people in the Democratic majority thought that since he wanted it, we would make sure he doesn't get it,'' said Councill.

For the state NAACP, ``our basic philosophical concern was that many kids, especially poor kids and at-risk kids, are not going to benefit from these kinds of things,'' said President Emmitt Carlton.

Supporters say that students would be admitted by lottery, to ensure random selection, and that last year's bill would have required half the schools to ``increase the educational opportunities of at-risk students.''

What factors will help the bill's odds next year?

House turnover. Two members of the Education Committee weren't re-elected; both were opponents of charter schools.

Clinton's support. President Clinton in recent months has strongly endorsed the concept, cementing a bipartisan seal of approval.

Federal funding. Clinton last week signed a bill offering $80 million to the states for charter schools. Last year, $51 million was available, but Virginia, without charter schools, couldn't get a penny.

Positive research. The U.S. Department of Education and the conservative Hudson Institute, a think tank, issued favorable reports this summer.

The institute, surveying 60 schools, found that three-fifths of students said their teachers were better than before; two-thirds of parents said class sizes were smaller and individual attention greater at charter schools. The lead author, Gregg Vanourek, will speak at Monday's state Board of Education meeting.

The government report found that the schools enroll fewer special-ed but slightly more minority students than other schools. Charter schools also tend to be small; most have under 200 students.

But Cheri W. James, president of the Virginia Education Association, said: ``Charter schools have not been around long enough to show they improve student learning.''

Only a few areas - including Cleveland and Milwaukee - offer vouchers, generally covering up to $2,500 per child to attend private - and sometimes religious - schools. To Easton, the president of the state Board of Education, it's an equal-opportunity tool for the poor: ``We already have parental choice of schools for more affluent families; what we're looking to do is expand it for less-affluent families.''

A Harvard University report found that in the first year of the Cleveland program, the students posted higher-than-average gains in test scores and that two-thirds of parents were ``very satisfied'' with the education.

But the voucher idea has generated strong opposition. Critics say it's unconstitutional government support of religion. Beyond the legalities, ``it's the death knell for public schools,'' predicted Marian Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers.

Jim Murphy, a Fairfax parent and chairman of the Virginia PTA's education committee, said vouchers wouldn't help the people who need it the most: For low-income parents, Murphy said, $2,000 or $3,000 wouldn't be enough to cover private school.

Even Gilmore has said he would not support them if he felt the final plan would damage public schools.

The tuition tax credit is an alternative that supporters such as Patricia Grigsby thinks may be more palatable. ``Rather than making a government payment to the school, the government is letting people keep a little of their own money,'' said Grigsby, a member of the Loudoun County tax equity committee, which proposed the tax credit. Grigsby also will speak at the meeting Monday.

Yet many voucher opponents see little better in the tax credit plan. Either way, Virginia Beach School Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney said, it will end up draining money from public schools.

Sen. Frederick M. Quayle, R-Chesapeake, also said he isn't ready for either vouchers or tax credits. But he is a supporter of charter schools. ILLUSTRATION: [Side Bar]

CHARTER SCHOOLS

What are they? Schools that can be run by a principal, a group of

parents, teachers - whoever signs the charter with the school

division. They are exempted from many state regulations.

Pros: With new leadership and subject to fewer rules, they can

afford to take chances and try new programs to help teach kids.

Cons: Skeptics fear they could become enclaves of the elite, free

of state oversight.

VOUCHERS

What are they? Government payments - generally no more than

$2,500 - to help families send children to private, and sometimes

religious, schools.