ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160054
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SPEAKING OF vetoes, Gov. Allen has staked out an unreasonable position on Goals 2000. That - along with his hidebound determination to stick to it - becomes more apparent with every development.
Last week, as school districts rushed to sign up for $6.7 million in federal Goals 2000 funding, the governor vetoed language in the state budget bill that would require Virginia to apply for the money if two-thirds of the school boards ask for it. Allen probably doesn't have the power to veto that language, though Attorney General Jim Gilmore says he does.
With all due respect to Gilmore, we put more stock in the opinion of A. E. Dick Howard, an expert on state constitutional law at the University of Virginia. He says only specific appropriations are subject to a veto.
So Virginians can expect the General Assembly to ignore that veto, and the governor to ignore the General Assembly by refusing to apply for the money even if two-thirds of the school boards apply for it. All because, he claims, the school districts may be unwittingly selling their souls to a federal government waiting to spring some mandate or other on them.
Allen clings to this fear despite evidence to the contrary. South Carolina's governor, a Republican and self-described Christian conservative, took the money for his state with the understanding that he'd toss it back if it came with strings attached. South Carolina is participating.
And this isn't just about money. At risk of being downsized into oblivion, Goals 2000 is merely an attempt to raise national - not federal - educational standards. Surely, while retaining local control over how kids are taught, every school in America should be aiming to provide a world-class education. Surely, in making the attempt, most schools could use help.
Virginia schools could. But they are saddled with a governor who apparently thinks that local school districts - accomplished at snagging millions of dollars in federal aid each year - are too naive to know when they're about to step into a federal tar pit from which, he would have Virginians imagine, there can be no return.
If Gov. Allen embraces the oft-stated conservative ideal of returning control of public schools to local boards, why not get out of their way and let them decide whether they'd be better off participating in Goals 2000?
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB