THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190253
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS AND PHIL WALZER, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
Republican Gov. George F. Allen offered an olive branch to General Assembly Democrats and Virginia's education community Monday by proposing a spending increase of more than $1 billion for colleges and public schools during the next two years.
Allen's budget plan and the upbeat mood that prevailed stood in stark contrast to a year ago, when Allen proposed education cuts of $90 million, setting off a raucous battle that ended in a legislative stomping of his conservative education agenda.
The governor outlined funding increases of more than $570 million for public schools and $475 million for higher education. He said his goal is to couple the education investment with ``genuine reform and accountability.''
The ``cornerstone'' of his recommendations is formed by tough new academic standards in math, science, social studies and English adopted by the state Board of Education last summer, Allen said. He called for $23 million to develop tests to measure student achievement based on the new standards.
The education priorities Allen outlined Monday dovetail Democrats' campaign pledges to increase funding for classroom technology, to reduce class sizes in primary grades and to raise the state's share of costs for mandated Standards of Quality, the commonwealth's blueprint for achieving academic excellence.
The plan includes money for basic school aid, textbooks and programs for gifted, vocational, remedial and special education students. Allen proposed an additional $462 million for K-12 education, an 11 percent increase over the 1994-96 budget.
``It appears to me that we're in the same gym and dressed in the same uniforms and all playing for the same end goal, now,'' said House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, a Roanoke County Democrat and an Allen nemesis in the 1995 legislative session.
Local school officials were buoyed, but were hesitant to claim victory, still bristling from last year's budget battles.
``At first blush, it's encouraging, but the devil's in the details,'' said George Raiss, spokesman for Norfolk schools.
The move to reduce class sizes, for example, is a double-edged sword: ``A lot of school systems around the state, including us, are maxed out in terms of classroom space,'' Raiss said. ``The only way to handle that is more teachers and classrooms.''
Measuring student performance is key to Allen's budget proposal. Virginia, Allen said, has ``pumped in billions-more taxpayer dollars on a bipartisan basis over the past 15 years.
``While there is much positive that can be said about our schools in Virginia, we cannot say there is tangible, measurable evidence of progress,'' Allen said.
Allen would increase spending for Virginia's 1.1 million school kids by $120 per pupil in fiscal year 1997 and $172 in 1998. He would give teachers a 3 percent salary raise on Dec. 1, 1997.
Under his plan, education spending would comprise 49.8 percent of the state's general fund budget, an increase of 1.3 percent from 1994-96.
In one item sure to be a lightning rod, Allen proposed returning $15 million in lottery funds to local school districts in 1998. Districts would be given flexible ``block grants'' for such things as teacher salaries, smaller class sizes and school construction.
His plan for an additional $475 million for higher education is the biggest increase that colleges would receive in the '90s.
``We're putting a very strong emphasis on higher education; it is at the forefront of this budget,'' said Beverly H. Sgro, state secretary of education.
Among the big-ticket items are an extra $127 million for construction and technology and $49 million to accommodate projected increases in enrollment.
The budget also would continue to require colleges to limit annual tuition increases to the rate of inflation. The State Council of Higher Education, the agency overseeing colleges, had proposed freezing tuition for the next two years. Allen said he would encourage, but not require, such a freeze.
After years of fighting cuts, college administrators welcomed Allen's proposal for more money. ``It's a good starting point,'' said Samuel E. Jones, vice president for planning and budget at the College of William and Mary.
But some said Allen exaggerated the new money colleges would get. The budget, for instance, says $210 million - or nearly half - of the increase will come from savings the colleges squeezed out of ``restructuring'' maneuvers and from the Workforce Transition Act, Allen's buyout program for state employees. Yet, colleges say they already had been told they could keep that money.
Sen. Hunter B. Andrews, D-Hampton, the outgoing Senate Finance Committee chairman, also questioned ``a lot of packaging which will seem less than it appears to be as time goes on'' and urged greater increases for colleges. ``Until . . . we begin to invest meaningfully in higher education, . . . we will constrain and limit Virginia's future.''
Academics also complained that Allen had slighted their most pressing need - faculty raises.
The budget calls for no raises in 1996 and average increases of 5 percent in December 1997. Allen also announced a one-time 4.2 percent bonus for all state workers next December through a rescheduling of paychecks, but some legislators questioned whether workers would actually get more money.
``It's really smoke and mirrors,'' Andrews told Robert W. Lauterberg, Allen's budget director. ``. . . Don't mislead the state employees.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The governor had a friendly wink for money-committee members
Monday.
Graphic
The Virginian-Pilot
WHERE THE MONEY GOES
Percent of Virginia's total general fund budget, 1994-96 compared to
1996-98.
SOURCE: Secretary of Finance
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA STATE BUDGET by CNB