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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 13, 1991                   TAG: 9102130485
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Landmark News Service/ and The Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE PANEL STIFLES ELECTED SCHOOL BOARDS IDEA

The vote by the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee probably means the issue is dead for the legislative session, and that Virginia will retain its distinction as the only state that allows only appointed school boards.

Backers expressed bewilderment at the margin of defeat. They had support from the statewide PTA, the state's largest teachers' group and the NAACP, and polls showing two-thirds of Virginia voters want the option of having elected school boards.

As expected, the Senate majority leader, Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, weighed in against the bill, contending that the existing system of local government, designed by Thomas Jefferson, "has served us well for more than 200 years."

"Virginia is the only state that does a lot of things," Andrews said. "We do them well."

Opponents, including the Virginia School Boards Association and local government officials, agreed with Andrews that electing school boards while leaving the power to tax with local councils and boards of supervisors was a bad idea.

The bill "has the potential to create educational and political chaos," said Betty Parkman, a Norfolk School Board member. "The politicization of school systems in cities like Boston, Chicago, Washington and Detroit is well documented."

Others contended the bill could allow special-interest groups to dominate school board elections because such contests likely would have low voter turnouts. The bill would have permitted referendums in 1992 on the issue in Virginia Beach, Newport News, York County and three Northern Virginia counties. If voters agreed to switch to an elected system, the first school board elections would have been conducted in 1994.

The vote, in a room mostly filled with supporters of elected boards, evoked scattered jeers. One man loudly sang the first line to `We Shall Overcome."

In other legislative action Tuesday:

A sharply divided House committee took a cautious step toward allowing people other than physicians to practice acupuncture.

The Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee voted 10-9 to send to the House floor a bill requiring the state Board of Medicine to establish regulations for licensing acupuncturists.

The committee added an amendment saying that the measure will not become law unless it is approved again by the 1992 General Assembly.

"Everybody's a little uncomfortable with this bill," said Del. Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach. "Maybe we should think about it another year."

Del. Mitchell Van Yahres, D-Charlottesville, said the medical establishment has been studying the issue for years.

"We've had enough study," he said. "It's been going on forever."

Virginia law allows only physicians to practice acupuncture. About 45 doctors offer the ancient treatment, which consists of inserting tiny needles into selected areas of the body to relieve pain or treat disease.

Floyd M. Herdrich of Burke, who works as an acupuncturist in Bethesda, Md., said the Virginia physicians who practice acupuncture have about 100 hours of training in the procedure "while someone like myself would have 2,000 to 3,000 hours."

The committee heard from acupuncture patients who were treated for infertility, chronic knee pain and unspecified symptoms related to benign tumors. All reported positive results.

But another acupuncture patient who sought relief from back pain reported a quick 80-pound weight gain, blurred vision, headaches, emotional disorders and other side effects.

The Senate passed two bills that would allow private prisons.

The Senate did not debate the bills. A bill authorizing construction of a women's prison and a pre-release center for men was approved 27-7. A similar proposal for two juvenile detention centers was passed 31-4.

The House-passed bills now go to Gov. Douglas Wilder, who has said private prisons should be looked at, but has not taken a stand on the bills. His closest political adviser, Virginia Democratic Chairman Paul Goldman, is a lobbyist for a private prison company.

A third bill allowing private construction and operation of two local or regional jails was killed earlier in a Senate committee after sheriffs voiced opposition.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY