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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 22, 1993                   TAG: 9309220229
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

GOLDMAN: TAX BOOST COULD HELP SCHOOLS

"I think a tax increase is necessary for education, and not just higher education, provided that higher education makes some real cuts and real innovations," said Paul Goldman, whom Wilder recently appointed to the State Council of Higher Education.

The Richmond lawyer is the first official to suggest a tax increase for higher education - a move that some college presidents have pushed for privately. But under Goldman's plan, it would have to be approved next year by the public in a statewide referendum.

In a speech to students at Old Dominion University, Goldman said his goal was to stir public discussion on a tax increase. But he spent more time needling colleges for not streamlining fast enough and for lobbying for more money even as Wilder has forecast a $500 million deficit.

Wilder has proposed cutting state aid to colleges, which has already been slashed 20 percent, by up to 15 percent more. The college presidents released a statement last week vowing to slice administrative costs and scrutinize faculty workloads - if they got an additional $223 million in state funding.

Echoing Wilder's acid response to the presidents, Goldman told the students: "Are you prepared to say, `We want this money for higher education even if it means we put old people off Medicaid?' . . . How much can you cut out of corrections? You can cut a lot if everyone's willing to take one of those prisoners as a roommate."

Goldman didn't specify how much the schools had to cut under his scenario or how much of a tax increase should be proposed.