Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 2, 1995 TAG: 9510020035
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So, as November's critical General Assembly election approaches, each political party - Democrats on the offensive, Republicans on the defensive - is trying to frame the issue to maximize partisan advantage.
In their attempts to define the public-school problem (and leaving aside their debate over higher education), both parties have it partly right and partly wrong.
Under Gov. George Allen, the state Board of Education adopted new standards of learning in the core subjects of math, science, English and social studies, and set benchmarks by which student achievement can be measured. Excellent.
Allen wants to make the standards mandatory, with every school system retaining the right and responsibility to develop the curriculum that would produce the desired results. Democrats have balked. The governor is right.
One need only look at the sad facts - nearly one-third of Virginia's sixth-graders fail to pass the state's Literacy Passport Test; almost one-fourth of its high school graduates need remedial help in college - to be convinced that more rigorous statewide standards are needed, and schools should be accountable for meeting them.
Democrats are wrong when they assure that the public schools are doing a fine job, and don't need substantial change.
Allen, on the other hand, is wrong in turning away from Goals 2000, a bipartisan, nationwide attempt to upgrade educational standards.
He's also wrong to gloss over spending disparities among school districts, and to propose less funding for education than what the Democrats would provide. It's not enough to offer simplistic bromides to the effect that throwing money at a problem does no good.
Joined by some GOP lawmakers, state Democrats passed legislation this year that will funnel about $150 million to schools to address disparity issues and technology needs. After vetoing a similar bill last year, the governor signed it this year. On this, the legislators were right. Inner-city and rural districts cannot afford to lag behind the suburbs in computer literacy.
And as far as emphasizing the basics, nothing is more basic to learning than small class sizes, especially in earlier grades. Schools that have received disparity money approved by the General Assembly this year have used it in some cases to lower class sizes from 25 or 30 to 18.
Competitive teacher salaries that raise the status of the profession also are important. Money won't solve educational problems, but inadequate funding can aggravate them.
Beyond more money and increased accountability, the parties disagree on such political chestnuts as sex education (the Democrats are right - it belongs in school as long as parents who object can opt to have their own children excused) and new ideas such as charter schools (Allen is right but, again, only partly - experimental schools are worth a try, but within the public school system).
Still, as much as education has become Issue No. 1 in legislative campaigns, most of the debate seems remote from the classroom, where the real reform has to happen.
Where is the emphasis on learning, rather than passing kids along an instructional factory line? Where is the emphasis on team teaching and team learning, on problem-solving and critical thinking, on community service and parental involvement?
Too many Virginians are emerging from school ill-prepared for the world they'll be facing. We need to talk about this. Partisan rancor isn't doing much to advance the discussion.
by CNB