Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993 TAG: 9307300177
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Other state legislatures, including Tennessee's, have begun to change the way school funds are distributed only after supreme courts ordered them to adhere to constitutional provisions, Andrew P. Miller told a four-member Supreme Court panel.
Miller is representing seven of Virginia's poorest and mostly rural school districts in a petition before the court.
They contend their students are denied the educational opportunities offered in wealthy suburban school districts.
The state attorney general's office has filed papers opposing the petition, arguing that the General Assembly - not the courts - should decide the issue.
But Del. Ford Quillen, D-Gate City, said the legislature isn't likely to tackle the question.
"There have been symbolic efforts, but there hasn't been any major effort by the General Assembly to deal with the disparity issue - to make everybody look beyond their locality," said Quillen.
To make any impact, he said, lawmakers would have to raise the state sales tax by a half-cent.
The coalition of schools is appealing a decision by Richmond Circuit Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr., who ruled the Virginia Constitution does not, as the coalition contends, require equal funding for all school districts.
The Constitution requires enough funding to keep districts from falling below a standard of quality set by the state, he said in his Nov. 24 decision.
Virginia has a formula that funnels more state funds to poorer districts, but local tax support more than makes up the difference in affluent areas, according to the state Department of Education.
The coalition has said the disparity exists because state financing of education is so low that the localities end up paying most schooling costs.
Miller told the Supreme Court panel that the coalition is not urging that the same amount of public funds be spent on every student.
But, he said, state funds should help compensate for disparities in localities' resources.
"The legislature must fully take into account the disparities in local resources," he said. "At the present time these disparities are not adequately addressed by the school aid formula."
The districts included in the case are Buchanan, Halifax, Pulaski and Russell counties and Petersburg, Radford and South Boston. Eleven students in those divisions also are plaintiffs.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.