ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 9, 1995 TAG: 9512110068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: JON GLASS LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
Poorly performing schools would be closed, low-income kids would be awarded state grants to attend private schools, and teacher tenure would be abolished.
The Commission on Champion Schools didn't pull any punches Friday when it adopted these and other recommendations to radically overhaul Virginia's public school system.
Republican Gov. George Allen appointed the 52-member commission in spring 1994 to make good on his pledge to reform education by creating tougher academic standards, improving school safety and making schools more accountable to parents.
The panel next month will present its recommendations to the governor.
Commission members boasted Friday that they had met Allen's charge to propose bold, innovative change. "This is a dramatic shift in the way public schools have done business, and it requires us to step outside our comfort zones," said Lil Tuttle, a commission member and an Allen appointee to the state Board of Education.
State Secretary of Education Beverly Sgro said implementation of the recommendations would place Virginia at the forefront of a national school reform movement.
"We are truly setting the pace of education reform," Sgro said.
Despite such lofty rhetoric, some of the proposals seem destined for partisan political battles in the General Assembly next month.
Commission members skirmished over some of the ideas, including recommendations to end teacher tenure and to offer vouchers and tuition tax credits to low-income parents who want to send children to private schools.
"I've talked to some legislators who say this is going to be dead on arrival," said commission member Robley S. Jones, president of the Virginia Education Association, the state's largest teachers association. "Education has been so highly politicized, it's hard to bring forward an agenda. I don't think there's an atmosphere of trust."
The commission voted to hold public hearings on some of the most sweeping proposals to build support for the ideas, including a recommendation to tie school accreditation to student performance. Virginia would be the first state to do so, Sgro said.
The Allen administration plans to seek up to $25 million from the state General Assembly to develop tests that would measure student performance against new state academic standards in math, science, social studies and English.
Tuttle said Virginia accreditation now is driven by regulations that have nothing to do with what students are learning in class. Instead, the system evaluates schools on such things as the number of library books, building size and traffic plans.
While the commission unanimously agreed that schools should be accountable, the more difficult question lies in the consequences for schools, teachers and administrators that don't measure up.
In an appendix to the report, a commission committee suggested such actions as suspending principals, firing teachers and placing failing schools into court receivership.
"What seems to be lacking is the real meat of what we're going to do to help those schools," said commission member Stephanie Lee of Northern Virginia.
The commission approved by split vote a recommendation that low-income kids receive state "Educational Opportunity Grants" of $2,500 to attend private schools. Families earning up to $35,000 of taxable income would be eligible.
Commission critics contended it would harm rather than help public schools.
"I feel the reform should take place where all students can take advantage of it, where all students can grow and mature and benefit," said commission member and state Del. Flora Crittenden, D-Newport News.
Jones called it a "cleverly crafted way to do away with the constitutionally established separation of church and state."
Commission member Sylvia Kraemer, who supported the move, said the debate "is so full of red herrings it's like a fish-processing plant."
"This issue is about extending a choice that most of us with middle incomes have to those of a lower income who don't have that choice," Kraemer said.
Commission member Richard H. Catlett Jr., a Richmond lawyer, made the case against teacher tenure, saying, "Right now it's almost impossible to replace poor, mediocre teachers."
Currently, teachers are awarded a continuing contract after a three-year probation period. Critics say that guarantees lifetime employment unless school administrators can document incompetence or moral turpitude. Workers in other professions have no such luxury, Catlett said.
Jones disputed that, saying Fairfax County has removed more than 500 teachers the past seven years.
"There are reasons why the schoolhouse environment should be less tumultuous than corporate America," Jones said. "Meaningful reform requires experimentation, and if you're operating in an environment of fear you're going to stick with the status quo and be reluctant to try new things."
LENGTH: Medium: 93 linesby CNB