Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 26, 1993 TAG: 9309260137
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
- David Manley, Max Meadows
Mary Sue Terry:
"First of all, I'm the only candidate in the race for governor who has put forth the first steps of a plan to deal with the disparity issue. I was reared in Patrick County, my parents were school teachers, so I know full well how the special challenges of localities that don't have the tax base to provide the same level of financial support that other, wealthier localities provide for their students.
"I've committed to, as governor, leading a bi-partisan effort to create a 10-year plan, at a minimum, to deal with the disparity issue. It would begin with a first step during my administration to lower the teacher-pupil ratio for grades K through 3, from the present level of 1 to 25 to a target level of 1 to 15. This lowered teacher-pupil ratio would be in those school divisions with high percentages of at-risk children. It goes without saying that when certain children come to class without adequate parental support and community support they take special help to get up to speed by the third grade so they can compete with their fellow students and have a good shot at graduating from high school.
"So when we've got limited resources, I think we target them and we target them at those areas with high percentages of at-risk students and lower the teacher/pupil ratio. Now any significant step that we take on disparity begins with the withdrawal of the present lawsuit against the commonwealth . . . Beyond that, both sides on this issue need to develop a relationship of trust with each other and move forward and get this issue out of the courtroom and back into the halls of the General Assembly and the governor's office where it belongs."
George Allen:
"The concern in disparity focuses on the question of funding. The funding for education in Virginia has increased over the years, but the test scores have not gone up at the same rate as spending. We found only about one of every five students is capable of reaching the level of competence they should, so money's not the only solution.
"Problem is, out of the money we are spending in education, too little of it is getting to the classroom. Out of every dollar, only 48 cents gets to the classroom. The other 52 are spent on overhead and administrative costs. As governor, I'll re-focus on the basics in our elementary and secondary schools. We're going to require tough minimum standards for both students and teachers, with an emphasis on math, reading, science, history and writing.
"I certainly feel the state has a key role to play in supporting local school districts. But too often state bureaucracy seems to get in the way. We ought to eliminate or modify costly mandates and regulations which burden our local school systems. I want to ensure that teachers spend the maximum amount of time in class and a minimum amount on administrative trivia. By eliminating frivolous and unfunded mandates, we can provide local school systems with more flexibility on how to spend education dollars. The Allen administration is going to be an innovator in allowing more discretion in curriculum and teaching methods at the local level. Furthermore, I want to encourage business leaders and retired folks to help in class, whether tutoring students one on one or sharing their knowledge.
"The other thing we can look at on disparity [is telecommunications]. If there's a rural school system where four students are taking advanced language courses, with the telecommunications capability available, we can have interactive teaching in the more rural areas. They can be linked up with community colleges or four-year-colleges.
"The question really is, re-prioritize our current funding, focus on academics, reduce mandates, have interactive telecommuncations. The final thing would be changing our funding formula, or determination of a jurisdiction's ability to pay, by taking into account localities that have land-use taxation for agricultural or forest land. Our current formula really does punish localities that have land-use taxation. That is inequitable. That would be a change which would help rural areas."
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Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB