ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170017
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
DON TERP last week declined an invitation to serve on a committee to help plan for Roanoke County's school needs. A leader of the effort to reject a bond issue for a new high school, Terp is more interested in opposing than proposing. That's his prerogative.
But now that voters have rejected a new, 1,900-student high school for Cave Spring, county leaders still must find a way to accommodate the growing population in the area. In doing so, they ought to take notice of a study, released last week, suggesting that students learn most at high schools of between 600 and 900.
According to the study, students in schools of 600 to 900 show higher math and reading achievement, regardless of economic status, than students from bigger or smaller schools.
Of course, two smaller schools would be more expensive in the long run than one bigger school, and that would be a tough sell to the anti-tax crowd.
But bond opponents who assured themselves that they weren't voting against education, just against a poor school plan, might be expected to get out and work, as well as vote, for a better plan.
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