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

DATE: THURSDAY, December 8, 1994                   TAG: 9412230025
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

CHARTER SCHOOL PLAN ATTACKED

Allowing some public schools to set their own curriculums, schedules and policies would benefit only schools in affluent areas, critics of Gov. George Allen's proposed charter schools concept said Wednesday.

Officials of several state agencies and local school boards attacked the proposal during a Senate Education and Health Committee meeting, saying it would weaken public education overall.

``Charter schools will derail efforts to improve education for all students in Virginia,'' Newport News Superintendent Eric Smith told committee members. ``There is no educational equity in this plan - rather, an inherent exclusivity.''

Allen is pushing for broad exemptions from state oversight and regulation for schools that sign a ``charter'' or contract spelling out the educational results they will achieve as a result of their independence.

The charter school idea was recommended by Allen's Commission on Champion Schools. Allen will ask the General Assembly to approve the idea when it convenes next month for its 1995 session.

Advocates say the concept gives local schools the flexibility to achieve their own educational priorities.

by CNB