Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 28, 1993 TAG: 9310280223
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FRANKLIN LENGTH: Medium
Allen, depicted as an opponent of public schools by Democrat Mary Sue Terry, had deflected questions about his daughter's education for months with a promise that he and his wife would decide "based on what is best for our children."
But on Wednesday, Allen announced: "We have discussed it. In the event we are elected, we intend to have Tyler in a public school."
Allen's decision may help mute one of Terry's recent campaign themes - that Allen's support for local option "vouchers" or tax breaks for private schooling would rob the public system of money.
Recent Virginia governors have gone back and forth on the issue of public schooling for their children. Former Gov. Linwood Holton, the first Republican governor since Reconstruction, made national headlines by sending his children to Richmond's then-recently integrated schools in 1970.
Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., followed suit when he served as governor in the early 1980s. But former Gov. Gerald Baliles, who lived in Richmond when he was elected, kept his children in private schools. Gov. Douglas Wilder's children were grown before he took office.
Allen said Wednesday that he would not choose a voucher system to help defray the cost of private schooling for his children. But he defended the idea "if a local government and parents in an area decide they want it."
"Really, there is no difference between vouchers for public schools and the tuition-assistance grants we give college students," he said. The state has long provided grants to Virginians who attend private, in-state colleges. Allen said vouchers would help public schools by offering competition and would give "the families of poor children the same opportunities wealthy families have" to choose a private education.
Terry "looks at children as dollar signs, as little bags of money" when she argues that the money given to private-school students would reduce public-school revenues, Allen said.
Allen also campaigned in Winchester, where he toured a General Electric plant that manufactures light bulbs and worked the downtown with local GOP candidates. Allen gave qualified support to the North American Free Trade Agreement after the tour.
Now that he leads in the polls, Allen is taking no chances with campaign themes and is making some off-beat and nonthreatening stops. On Wednesday night, Allen drew a crowd of Northern Virginia Republicans to a fund-raiser with actor Charlton Heston, an avid opponent of gun-control laws; Texas Sen. Phil Gramm; and crime novelist Patricia Cornwell. Former Gov. Holton - whose wife, Jinks, has endorsed Democrat Don Beyer for lieutenant governor - also turned out on Allen's behalf.
And on Tuesday, he went on a Richmond FM rock station to answer such odd questions as, "Who is the hottest woman you have ever met besides your wife?"
"My mother?" Allen answered.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB