Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280017
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY L. GARLAND
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When asked which issue deserved "the most attention and money" from state government in the next two years, 70 percent chose education.
Of course, a pollster can obtain almost any response he wants, depending on how he frames the question. One wonders what the answer would have been had the question been asked this way: "Considering that Virginia now spends $7,000 on each student in the public schools, and normal increases will raise this to almost $8,000 in two years, would you favor an increase in taxes to make this $10,000, bearing in mind it will cost about $2 billion more?" I'd be surprised if 10 percent of actual voters would say yes to that. But costs were last week's column, and the fine art of reading opinion polls must await another day.
Here we flesh out two alternatives: charter schools and tax-funded vouchers applicable against tuition at private schools.
The first was proposed by Allen and defeated by the assembly's Democratic majority. Democrats sense a winning issue here. It has already surfaced in the key contest between incumbent GOP state Sen. Brandon Bell of Roanoke County and John Edwards, the Democratic challenger. Edwards has taken to referring to Bell's support for charters as giving money to private schools.
Because it's lengthy, let's give one last complete definition of what the governor is proposing. Charter schools will be public schools operated by any group that can persuade the local and state boards of education to grant them a contract. They will charge no tuition and receive the same taxpayer support as public schools. They will also be subject to many of the same requirements, including the admission of minority and "special" students. While free to devise their own program of instruction, charters can be revoked for cause.
If the governor's bill is enacted, the state superintendent of public instruction, Dr. William Bosher, sees 10 to 20 charter schools operating within three years. If so, that would be about 1 percent of the 1,800 public schools.
The hurdles will be daunting. If local boards of education, increasingly elected with teacher endorsements, must give their consent to a charter, we may be sure many reasons will be found to refuse. If teachers in a school being considered for charter status must concur and receive assurances of continued employment, how much will change? And a proposal may be welcomed by school patrons or stoutly resisted.
Well, can't those seeking a charter organize their school from scratch? That would certainly reduce the potential for conflict. But where will they get the capital? Building and equipping a school for 500 students will cost at least $4 million. They could certainly earmark a portion of the public monies they will ultimately receive for debt service, just as public schools do. But who would lend them the money in the first place? Some form of state guarantee for start-up costs will be necessary.
Allen was correct in seeing charters as the only bone he could throw those dissatisfied with public schools. People still persist in seeing private schools as the preserve of a self-appointed elite. And those families who would now be helped by state aid are too few to be politically significant. According to the 1990 census, only 7 percent of Virginia students attended private elementary and secondary schools. That varied from a mere trace in many systems to 18 percent in the city of Alexandria.
But there are all kinds of angles here that need exploring. The first is cost. While some private schools cost more than public schools, many operate for a lot less. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Catholic schools in Rochester, New York spend about $3,000 per student, against more than $9,000 in the city's public schools. But tuition covers only $1,800 and local parishes must make up the difference.
That burden may explain why 19 Catholic schools in Rochester have closed in the past 25 years. That caused one local grocery tycoon to pledge $25 million to held educate more than 2,000 low-income children in six inner-city church schools.
If private schools in Virginia enrolled 20 percent of students at an average cost to taxpayers of $2,000, a savings of $1 billion a year might be claimed. It wouldn't be that much, of course, because certain fixed costs in the public schools would be slow to reflect the shift. But Virginia schools are now gaining students and thousands of new classrooms will be needed in the next ten years.
There are two ways to hold down the cost of public aid to private education. The first is to give everyone who applies a basic grant of, say, $1,000, and up to $3,000 based on financial need. The second is to give the grants only for grades 7-12.
"Why," you may ask, "give the wealthy anything?" The answer is fairness. All private-school parents pay taxes to support public schools and then save those same schools the cost of educating their own children. They should get something, and those at the bottom should pay something, if it's only $100.
The idea is choice, and a commitment to that choice on the part of parents and children. Properly implemented, the savings to taxpayers could be counted in the billions. We should hesitate to guarantee vastly superior results. But those private schools now enrolling a mix of students comparable to the public schools have a pretty good track record. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York recently said his city's Catholic schools have a dropout rate of less than 1 percent, compared to 18 percent for the public schools, and score substantially higher in competency testing.
Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times columnist.
by CNB