Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 12, 1990                   TAG: 9005120367
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: ST. PAUL                                LENGTH: Medium

ECONOMY, LEARNING TIED/ OFFICIAL SAYS EDUCATION IS KEY

Virginia's current effort to curb school funding disparities between its rural and urban areas is not only important to education, he said, but "vital to economic development. Framme You can't talk about economic development anywhere in Virginia without talking about education."

Forward Southwest Virginia, a regional advocacy group, came to the same conclusion last week in a two-day meeting at Mountain Lake. Its participants rated education as the major area in which to work in the near future.

Framme, during a swing through Southwest Virginia, said the biggest factor hindering the growth of small and medium-sized businesses - where most jobs come from - was a lack of basic skills by entry-labor workers.

When those people work their way up in seniority to become foremen and managers, he said, they will lack the educational background to help Virginia industry compete in the world marketplace.

That is why Gov. Douglas Wilder has joined other governors in pushing for educational excellence by the year 2000. "We can't do it . . . by thrusting the sole responsibility of education on educators," Framme said. "You can't expect them to reach into the homes and provide the motivation, the discipline, the raising of our children."

Another avenue is Wilder's Partnerships for Excellence, through which educators will get information from business people to guide their efforts into the next century and give teachers a firsthand look at the marketplace, he said. The program will reach from the elementary level through graduate work, with a lot of help coming from the state's community colleges.

Wilder is committed to being an aggressive salesman for Virginia, and "the visibility he's getting on the national scene is . . . to our benefit," Framme said. "Doug Wilder can open any door in the world . . . If you can get in the door, that's half the battle."

Framme told reporters the economic problems of Southwest Virginia have not changed.

"There is a distance, a physical distance, between coalfields and metropolitan areas which can become centers of commerce. That's overcome, though, in large part by the regional efforts, the energetic efforts, by governmental officials as well as by economic development groups, and by the strong work ethic that Southwest Virginia is famous for," he said.