Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180348
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
ELECTED SCHOOL BOARDS GET OK
The 17th time was a charm Monday as the Virginia Senate finally approved a bill to allow elected school boards. Now the measure awaits only the governor's signature to become law.The measure has died at some level of the General Assembly in each of the past 16 years, but advocates had promised this would be the year for their cause. Now elections can take place by 1994.
"See this smile? What can I say?" said Beverly McMillan of Newport News, who saw the 24-15 vote as culmination of a long lobbying campaign. "We've had a bottle of champagne chilling for about three years now. We're going to break it out tonight."
Del. David Brickley, D-Woodbridge, has stubbornly pushed the legislation since 1976. "Sixteen years - that was my first thought" when the vote came through, Brickley said. "I'm excited."
After so much time, the vote did not come quickly; several opposing senators who knew the numbers were against them seized their last chance to preach against the measure.
"Being the only state in the Union that does not have elected school boards does not necessarily mean we're the ones who are wrong," said Sen. Clarence Holland, D-Virginia Beach.
He and Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, lectured sternly against Brickley's bill because it does not give elected school boards the authority to levy taxes.
By letting the school board make promises that a city council or county supervisors would have to pay for, "you create a direct confrontation with the governing body," Andrews said.
Andrews promised to work next year for a constitutional amendment allowing taxing authority.
All five black senators opposed the bill, saying it would hurt minorities. Elected school boards in other states are about 2 percent black, while Virginia's appointed boards are 17 percent black, said Sen. Henry Marsh, D-Richmond.
"To do this without considering the impact on minority representation would invite difficulties and trouble," Marsh said.
But with 23 of 40 senators already signed on as patrons of the bill, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
Gov. Douglas Wilder's office said the governor would have to see the bill before commenting on it. "The governor hasn't told me specifically that he would sign it," Brickley said, "but my understanding is he is supportive of the measure."
Although a majority of members of schools boards in Roanoke and Roanoke County said they would not run for seats on elected boards, the proposal apparently is a popular one among Roanoke Valley voters.
The Roanoke Valley Poll, conducted for the Roanoke Times & World-News by Roanoke College's Center for Community Research, found strong support for an elected school board without taxing power. Of the 400 people polled, 67 percent favored electing their school board; 94 percent did not want the board to have the power to tax.
\ YEA OR NAY ON ELECTED SCHOOL BOARDS
IN FAVOR: Sens. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County; Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount; Frank Nolen, D-Augusta; Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle; William Wampler, R-Bristol.
OPPOSED: Sens. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville; Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield; Elliot Schewel, D-Lynchburg.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.