THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070338
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
First-grade teacher Lauree Chapman figures she has spent $1,500 of her own money on books this school year for her 23 students at Hodges Manor Elementary.
She has begged parents for crayons and scissors, had to borrow writing paper and received nothing but a teacher's manual for math and science instruction.
In schools across Virginia, Chapman's refrain is becoming increasingly common, as districts struggle to come up with money to fund the most basic classroom needs.
On Wednesday, a coalition of educators, parents and business leaders launched a statewide campaign to publicize the financial woes in the state's neediest schools, scattered throughout the state in largely rural and inner-city districts.
The group, Virginians for Improved Education, wants to build public support for more state education funding before the General Assembly meets in January. Chapman and others struggling to meet the needs of Virginia's 1 million school children hope the group's efforts will give them greater access to badly needed classroom supplies.
``I really enjoy teaching, but it does put on extra stress just knowing I'm trying to do the best I can for the children but that I just don't have the things I need,'' said Chapman, who has taught for five years.
``I have to not only concentrate on the curriculum, but I have to go out and search for and buy instructional aids . . . I just can't let the children go without.''
Members of the group held news conferences in Petersburg, Woodbridge, Dublin, Bristol and at Hodges Manor in Portsmouth, where students showed off artwork depicting what they wanted to be when they grow up. But students' dreams are being shortchanged, coalition members said, pointing to critical shortages of classroom supplies, deteriorating school buildings, meager teacher salaries and poor student busing systems.
``We wanted to draw attention to the state not funding its fair share of education,'' coalition member Philip Worrell, superintendent of the 2,800-student Greensville County schools, said in Portsmouth.
Worrell, describing a 1908-era elementary school in Greensville County that blows circuits when computers are plugged in, said county residents would have to swallow a 26-cent real property tax increase to replace it.
``We don't have any assistance from the state to pay for this, and we don't have the tax base,'' Worrell said. ``Capital projects are a tremendous drain.''
The state's Literary Fund offers low-interest loans for school construction, but there is a several-year waiting list because the fund has been raided to pay for other state needs.
Coalition members pointed to a growing disparity between the poorest and richest districts that has created a system of education haves and have-nots.
In Northern Virginia, for example, the Arlington school district spent $8,898 per pupil in 1993-94, the highest spending rate in the state. Most of that, $7,218, was generated locally from its wealthy tax base. The state provided an additional $729 per student.
At the bottom, Bedford County in rural Southwest Virginia spent $3,805 per pupil, with $1,101 in local funds. Statewide, the average spending rate in 1993-94 among Virginia's 134 districts was $5,312 per pupil.
``When you look at the magnitude of the differences, the injustice is alarming,'' Worrell said, even when accounting for cost-of-living differences.
The coalition said the General Assembly should remedy the disparity by providing more money to the poorest districts, which it calls ``leveling up.''
Republican Gov. George Allen and Democrat legislative leaders are pledging to increase education funding. But with other needs pressing - prisons, Medicaid costs, payments to federal retirees, to name a few - competition for dollars will be intense.
``The laundry list is a mile long,'' said Del. Paul Councill, D-Franklin, chairman of the state House Education Committee and a member of the Appropriations Committee. ``Money helps, and I'm not saying we don't need to do better to try to help those students, but I think we need to get more for what we're already spending.''
Don Campbell, education committee chairman of the Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, said the state's business climate will suffer without improved education funding because schools wouldn't be able to equip students with skills to keep pace with industry's needs. MEMO: VIRGINIA STATISTICS
Virginians for Improved Education contended Wednesday that thousands
of Virginia's 1 million students are being shortchanged because of
inadequate state funding. Some statistics the group released:
Virginia ranks 14th nationwide in per capita income but ranks 44th in
education spending in grades kindergarten through 12th grade. It ranks
10th among the 12 Southern states.
On average, the state's wealthiest school districts spend more than
twice as much per pupil than the bottom five districts. The difference
between Arlington and Bedford County, which spend the most and least,
respectively, is more than $5,000 per pupil - $8,898 versus $3,805.
The bottom five districts pay teachers nearly $14,000 less than the
top five districts. The difference between the highest and lowest
average teacher salaries - $44,939 in Falls Church and $23,840 in
Highland County - was more than $21,000.
In the Tidewater region, teacher salaries are $2,000 below the state
average $33,010 and $8,000 below the average of the top five districts.
Median per pupil spending is $400 below the state average and $3,800
below the average of the top five districts.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS by CNB