Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
This time, however, it wasn't the Republican who lives in the fancy mansion on Richmond's Capitol Square. Instead, a mechanical governor limited the top speed on the engine of their rented school bus and helped make the Democrats 45 minutes late for an outdoor rally at Virginia Tech.
Even state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, one of the featured speakers, showed up on his own a few minutes ahead of the bus.
"The bus is so slow, I got out and walked," Marye laughed.
Once the bus arrived, a boisterous group of College Republicans greeted House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County, Del. Jim Shuler of Blacksburg and Marye with chants for Gov. George Allen and other GOP favorites. The Republicans' signs for local General Assembly candidates seemingly outnumbered Democrats' signs, too.
"The students were here for Republicans, not for Democrats," said Cordel Faulk, a Tech sophomore from Virginia Beach.
But the college students' heckling wasn't loud enough to drown out Cranwell and Co.'s message of more than $200 million in new education spending they want to push through this winter's General Assembly session.
The statewide bus tour, which started in the coalfields earlier Wednesday and will continue today in Vinton, is designed to highlight the issue Democrats say is most important to voters.
Specifically, Cranwell said Virginia Democrats - if they maintain control of the General Assembly - will build on the past session's education program with new initiatives costing up to $260 million, including:
A commitment of $200 million for higher education. The spending will be paid for with growth-produced tax revenue and will not require a tax increase, Cranwell said.
A plan to reduce teacher-to-pupil ratios to 22-to-1 from kindergarten through third grade for all pupils during the 1996-98 state budget. Democrats have included $40 million in the current budget to start that effort for disadvantaged children in those grades.
A grant program to let local schools carry through with their proposals to improve school security and prevent violence.
A plan to put a computer in every one of Virginia's 50,500 classrooms by the year 2000.
An incentive program for individual schools based on regular and reliable measures of progress.
A possible increase in the state's share in local school funding through the standards of quality program. The increase would take into account local governments' commitment to education and schools' performance.
"I believe, with every fiber in my body, that good schools mean good jobs," Cranwell said.
The new spending proposal came after a Blacksburg High School student, a Tech professor, Shuler and Marye made the case for support of different aspects of the public education system.
"We feel that higher education is getting short shrift and that this is damaging the Commonwealth of Virginia," said David DeWolf, an engineering professor.
Marye, a beef cattle farmer, spoke out for Tech's Cooperative Extension Service, calling it the "engine that drives agriculture" in Virginia.
Marye also gave the dozen or so rowdy College Republicans a taste of their own medicine, once they finally stopped chanting for Pat Cupp, his opponent.
"That's the largest group that Cupp's been able to muster since the campaign started," Marye said.
While Democrats were quick Wednesday to criticize the GOP's statewide campaign "pledge," Republicans had no immediate response to the Democrats' education plan - although in the past Allen has stressed that the key to better schools is tougher academics, not necessarily more money.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB