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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 25, 1990                   TAG: 9007250389
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B/3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARGIE FISHER RICHMOND BUREAU
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

WILDER URGES BUSINESS LINK TO EDUCATION

Virginia businesses, colleges and families were urged by Gov. Douglas Wilder on Tuesday to get more actively involved in promoting quality public schools.

In a speech at a conference on education, Wilder said the state's tight budget situation makes it more important than ever "that a working partnership be forged between schools and businesses."

He called on business leaders to go beyond the traditional "adopt-a-school" concept and realize that "it is in their best interests to join in a long-term, continuous communication and interaction between classrooms and the private sector."

If companies will expand efforts to develop internships and similar hands-on learning experiences for young people, the payoff will be entry-level workers that are far more productive from the outset, the governor said.

To meet economic and social demands, there should also be stronger partnerships built within the education system, he said.

Reforms that are enacted at the state level can accomplish only so much, he said.

Quality education, he said, "begins in the home."

by CNB