ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
Gov. George Allen on Monday stepped up efforts to discourage local school boards from applying for federal funds that he refused to accept last year on ideological grounds.
Allen warned that localities that follow the Norfolk School Board in applying for the Goals 2000 money could find themselves ensnared in a web of federal regulations.
``There's not only strings attached, there is a lot of wire and a lot of rope,'' he said.
The states-rights Republican hinted he would veto a Democrat-inspired provision in the state budget aimed at generating a groundswell of support for the estimated $6.6 million in Goals 2000 funds.
Under the budget, Allen would have no choice but to participate in Goals 2000 if two-thirds of school boards in the state request a share of the money. The $6.6 million would pay for teacher training, curriculum development and new materials. Allen turned down $1.7 million in funding for the program last year.
Democrats in the General Assembly put the provision into the budget to draw attention to what critics say is Allen's willingness to sacrifice needed education money on the altar of philosophical purity.
``It doesn't make any sense - as scarce as money is today - to turn down money that rightfully belongs to the taxpayers,'' said Page Boinest, spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, a Democrat.
The Virginia School Boards Association has urged localities to petition for Goals 2000 money and, to make things easier, has mailed out model resolutions.
The Allen administration, however, is sticking with its view that Goals 2000 would result in an unnecessary federal intrusion into the sovereignty of Virginia schools.
He said local school boards would have to create panels to develop state-approved education-improvement plans. That would add another layer of bureaucracy into school operations, he said.
Allen also said the federal program requires grants to local school divisions be awarded on a competitive basis, which means there's no guarantee individual Virginia school systems would get any money.
If the federal government wants to improve education, it should award local school boards block grants that they can use as they see fit, he said.
In a memo sent to all school divisions last week, state schools superintendent William Bosher portrayed Goals 2000 as an extraordinarily complicated venture with all sorts of bureaucratic and legal requirements.
``This is a matter of principle,'' he said.
Allen acknowledged that his states-rights stance has its limits. He does not advocate pulling Virginia out of other federal programs, which provide tens of millions of dollars for everything from highway construction to pollution permits. ``We've become dependent on it.''
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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