Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991 TAG: 9104190542
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"It is universally acknowledged that we have a problem," Willard Lemmon said Thursday. "But I'm afraid that if there's a suit, we won't have an answer for five years."
Lemmon - who spoke at a meeting of the Virginia Tech chapter of the Phi Delta Kappa fraternity at the Blacksburg Holiday Inn - heads the Governor's Commission on Educational Opportunities for all Virginians.
The commission released a report in March recommending 27 possible solutions to the problem of disparity between rural and wealthy school districts.
Another group - the Coalition for Equity in Educational Funding - has said the commission's report was too vague. It has threatened to sue the state unless the General Assembly or the governor offers more specific solutions.
Problems include the fact that teachers in some districts make twice as much as in others, and that some high school students have four times as many classes to choose from than others.
The coalition meets at 10:30 this morning and is scheduled to vote on whether it will sue.
Lemmon said his group, along with Gov. Douglas Wilder and the General Assembly, is working toward solutions and that a lawsuit would bring those efforts to a standstill.
"Unless the governing forces in Virginia find an answer, I do believe we will have a suit," he said. But he added that a suit "in the long run would be a disaster."
Lemmon warned that a lawsuit could hurt Virginia like it recently hurt New Jersey. The court-ordered solution there forced suburban districts to relinquish some of their funding so that poorer inner-city districts could receive more money, he said.
"Any time you go into court, you don't know how you're going to come out," he said. "No one contends that money alone will solve all of our problems."
A lawsuit also would be a waste of time, Lemmon said, because the courts likely would hand the case right back to the General Assembly and force legislators to solve the problems. That is exactly what his commission has suggested and Lemmon hopes the coalition will allow more time for the 1992 General Assembly to take some action.
"Virginia, like the nation, should not be divided against itself," he said. "We're talking about our children."
by CNB