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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 9, 1994                   TAG: 9404110148
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FOCUS 2006

THE OVERARCHING goals of Focus 2006 are deceptively simple. They are meant to ensure:

That all Montgomery County students will enter school ready to learn. That the schools are adequately and responsibly funded and supported by county residents. That optimal educational achievement will be promoted for all individuals, regardless of ability, creed, gender, location, national origin, race, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status. That all students will understand and be able to use the latest technologies and information sources.

That all schools will serve as community centers. That volunteerism will be encouraged so that all citizens may be involved in the education of county young people. That all students will learn to live and work in a community that uses its diversity as a strength. That all students will develop an appreciation for the arts and their relationship to academics and community life.

That all students graduating from the county's public-school system will be employable, will have the knowledge and skills to begin a productive and satisfying career, and will be prepared for a life of continued learning. And that the school system will be a cornerstone for economic development in the county.

The difficulty, of course, comes in the fine print: dozens of specific recommendations to achieve the goals, many of which will have a price tag. The first goal, for instance, is also first of the national Goals 2000. Some new federal and state funding will be available, but the county's government also will need to increase its financial commitment to preschool programs.

Montgomery County residents who developed the Focus 2006 report are not wild-eyed dreamers. As parents, business leaders, teachers, taxpayers, they doubtless understand and accept that achievement of the goals will require setting priorities, a steady-as-we-go approach. What they should not accept is officials' all-too-common response: to look for reasons why objectives can't be met rather than ways to meet them.

by CNB