ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702170024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
Gov. George Allen submitted last-minute legislation Friday that will force the General Assembly to reconsider establishing charter schools in Virginia, setting the stage for a partisan debate on education that is expected to carry into this fall's elections.
Allen's action to create the special class of publicly funded schools that could be privately owned and exempted from many regulations comes three weeks after an identical measure was killed in the House Education Committee. Lawmakers had thought the matter was dead for this year's legislative session, which ends next Saturday.
But the Republican governor decided to test his luck again - this time in the Senate. The chamber's Education and Health Committee is expected to vote on the measure Sunday.
Allen decided to resurrect the issue after President Clinton announced in his State of the Union speech last week that he would seek $100million in new federal grants this year to help states create charter schools - which are public schools operated independently of local school boards. Under most charter school scenarios, local school boards would issue contracts or "charters" to the groups that would run them.
Allen said the grants - if carried through to the end of Clinton's term in 2000 - could make as much as $30million available to Virginia. ``This should give added incentive to those who only care about the amount of money we spend on education,'' said Allen, taking a shot at Democratic legislative leaders who oppose charter schools.
``Charter schools are right for Virginia and right for our children,'' he said. Twenty-five states now have such schools.
Many Virginia Democrats and leaders of the state NAACP have argued that the legislation would create elite, racially segregated schools. They also have tagged the legislation a thinly disguised effort to seek public tax support for private schools.
``My assessment of charter schools is that it's just private school vouchers dressed in sheep's clothing,'' said House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton.
Allen, joined by many Republicans, countered that the state will be ineligible to receive federal funds if charter schools are exclusionary.
He said creation of the schools would provide parents and students with much-needed instructional alternatives within the public school system. For example, Allen said charter schools could offer different hours and class sizes from standard public schools. ``It's only limited by the imagination of those that are teaching,'' he said.
The legislation would give local school boards the option of creating charter schools. The boards also would be empowered to exempt the schools from local regulations. Even so, each special school would be required to achieve at least the state average on standardized tests or risk losing its charter.
Earlier this year, an identical bill was defeated on a tie vote in the House committee when 11 of 13 Democrats voted against it and all 9 Republicans on the panel supported it.
Allen acknowledged it would take ``a heck of an effort'' to get the bill through the Senate, which has 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans. Many Democrats accused Allen of an election-year ploy to force Lt. Gov. Don Beyer - the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor - to cast a risky tie-breaking vote.
Beyer said he will support the legislation if he is convinced the charter schools would not be exclusionary or ``a tool for religious schools or private schools to garner public support.''
Other Democrats said the governor was playing politics with education. They accused Allen of trying to defuse fallout over his two-year refusal to accept federal Goals 2000 money - making Virginia the only state to decline the grant to help improve educational standards.
Allen argued that by accepting the money, Virginia risked ceding some control of its public schools to the federal government. He reversed himself last month and joined the program after being widely criticized by Democrats. His delay cost the state $8.3million.
Allen is using the same argument in reverse for charter schools. He said the Democrat's rejection of the concept last year has cost the state about $3million in federal aid.
Democrats noted that the money would not have been automatically available to the Virginia even if it had charter schools, because states must compete for the charter grants. With Goals 2000, any state that applied for the money automatically got a share.
Last December, the governor said he would not pursue charter schools this year because the issue would ``distract'' attention from other items in his education agenda.
Now, Allen is using Clinton's support of charter schools to suggest that the president's Democratic colleagues in the Virginia are extreme in their opposition to the program.
``Do they really believe that Bill Clinton is a segregationist?'' said Allen, normally a critic of the president. ``How absurd.''
To leave a message for state legislators, call (800)889-0229 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays or write in care of General Assembly Building, Richmond 23219. To track the status of bills, go on line at www.roanoke.com and click on "The Richmond Archive."
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB