Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994 TAG: 9403040013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray L. Garland
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A barb to the House for killing the bill to bring riverboat gambling to Hampton Roads and the James River. The nation is now so deep in legalized gambling there seems little point in drawing the line here.
The riverboat casinos offer the prospect of helping revitalize the struggling downtowns of several of our older cities. That there will be some corruption associated with it is a foregone conclusion, but hardly more than we've seen with bingo. And the riverboat operators aren't asking for state subsidies, and seem more than willing to give state and local tax collectors a decent rake-off.
While a local referendum on the riverboats is entirely proper, there should be no requirement for a statewide referendum, as was contained in the House bill. Voters have approved the lottery and pari-mutuel betting on horses by substantial margins. Besides, there's no reason for voters in Lee County to exercise a veto over what will be done in Richmond and Norfolk.
A bouquet to legislators for finding $103 million to address the issue of disparity in funding between rich and poor school districts. The plan now moving toward passage appears sensible. It would reduce the pupil/teacher ratio in the primary grades only in those schools with a disproportionate number of poor students and expand preschool programs.
Much has been written about the wide differences in per-pupil expenditures among the state's 138 school divisions. State officials have correctly pointed out that when you look beyond those few districts at the very top and those at the very bottom - which are always cited in news reports - differences in funding aren't that great.
Nor is there any clear correlation between expenditures and student performance as measured on standardized tests. That is, some districts spending a lot don't seem to get such good results while those that don't do. And many districts making the loudest demands for increased state funding impose very low local taxes.
Gov. George Allen was correct to insist that participation in the disparity plan be optional to those counties and cities affected, and they be required to contribute a quarter of the costs from local funds. Opting for smaller classes in kindergarten through third grade may also require new school buildings, which is mainly a local cost.
Class size has been steadily reduced in virtually all schools over many years and has yet to prove a panacea for what ails them. Still, it's worth a try, if for no other reason than allowing the education lobby to move on to another cause.
A bouquet to the House for passing a bill establishing a separate board of certification for educators, putting them on a par with such other professionals as doctors, lawyers and accountants. This function is now vested in the state Board of Education, which has a 19-member teacher-advisory panel with no real power.
While other regulatory boards are dominated by members of the profession being regulated, the teacher-certification board would contain a majority of public members, which is as it should be given the fact that tax dollars pay most of the freight.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction William Bosher, like his predecessors, has strongly opposed this bill, claiming his department can hardly fulfill its constitutional mandate of supervising public education without overseeing how teachers are prepared and certified. His arguments are likely to prevail in the Senate. But should it pass the Senate, a governor's veto is virtually certain and it would be sustained.
Given the tax-and-spend agenda of the Virginia Education Association, which is the fountainhead of the certification bill, there is cause for concern. But the governor would appoint the members of the board, and the legislature could override any unreasonable actions. In any event, changes in certification are likely to be slow in coming.
So, why change? The best argument is that educators deserve the same right as other professions to prescribe requirements for entry and to sit in judgment on those in their ranks accused of misfeasance and nonfeasance. The compliment to the teaching profession contained in this bill may be more cosmetic than cosmic, but it will be seen as a compliment that is mainly deserved. It has the added advantage of not costing very much.
While the profession as a whole may sometimes seem to think only of ways to get the rest of us to pay them more, the vast majority of individual educators are fine, upstanding people dedicated to doing the best job they can. Such changes in certification and policing as might be made in the future are likely to be positive - in the direction of imposing higher standards and greater accountability.
A bouquet to the Senate Finance Committee for funding a significant increase in the staff for commonwealth's attorneys in high-crime communities. Richmond's chief prosecutor, David Hicks, recently noted he has only 21 lawyers to cover 15 courts who must contend with a public defender's office with a larger staff than his and which can offer higher starting salaries.
It makes no sense for the legislature to be increasing penalties on a wide range of offenses without increasing the resources available to those prosecutors on the front line in enforcing the new sanctions. In the entire sphere of law enforcement, there's probably no other place where new tax dollars give greater assurance of a quick return.
\ Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.
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