ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER
Virginia is one of five states that did not apply this year for millions of dollars in federal money for a school-to-work program that encourages schools to work closely with businesses and industries to prepare students for the job market.
Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, said Monday he was shocked to discover that Gov. George Allen's administration failed to apply for a grant that he said could have amounted to $36 million for Virginia over the next five years.
"If the governor and state Department of Education are using our children's education to make political points, it is a shameful and malevolent thing to do," he said. "Our children should not be used as pawns in an ideological chess game."
Woodrum drew a parallel between the state's failure to seek the school-to-work money and Allen's refusal to accept federal funds under the Goals 2000 program. The Republican governor refused the Goals 2000 money because he said it would lead to federal intrusion in local schools.
Allen administration officials, however, denied that they failed to apply for the federal school-to-work money for ideological reasons.
Randolph Beales, director of the school-to-work program in Virginia, said the state intends to apply for funds next year.
The state has received $880,000 in demonstration money under the program during the past two years and is already participating, Beales said. State officials have been waiting to see if the demonstration projects were successful before applying for implementation funds, he said.
The state did not want to "impose a top-down approach," Beales said, but preferred to wait until school systems and other agencies were ready to implement workable projects.
Lt. Gov. Don Beyer, a Democrat, said he understood that Virginia could receive more than $50 million in federal funds over five years. He has written Richard LaPointe, state superintendent of public instruction, and asked him for a status report on the state's participation in the school-to-work funding program.
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