THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994              TAG: 9411110003
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A22  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

IN FAVOR OF EDUCATIONAL TAX CREDITS

I appreciate your coverage of the Governor's Commission on Champion Schools. As a former public-school teacher, I agree with the many parents who spoke in favor of educational tax credits.

The majority of private schools cost about 65 percent of what public schools cost, thus offering major savings for taxpayers and families, and quality educational alternatives for children. Many private schools have far less staff, money, facilities, etc., than the public schools, yet they still do an excellent job of effectively educating children in academics and in being good citizens.

There are private schools in Norfolk that effectively educate many disadvantaged children.

Most opponents of educational tax credits are National Education Association union teachers and NEA-paid representatives, government school superintendents and school-board members. These people represent the public-education establishment that opposes completion, parental choice and increased accountability for results. They defend the ``status quo'' public-school-monopoly system, even though many students pass through without being educated.

The educational establishment claims to be open-minded and critical-thinking, yet many do not want to even discuss or consider giving parents alternatives outside their government system. The public-school educational establishment claims to champion diversity, yet it does all it can to limit a child's accessibility to the variety of non-government schools.

The educational establishment should stop attacking parents as being undemocratic, elitist or something worse just because they want their children effectively educated, or because they want to choose a different educational environment that they have determined is right for their children. Not all children learn the same way, and there is more than one way to teach. No one school system can meet every child's needs.

V. WILLARD NICHOLS

Norfolk, Oct. 31, 1994 by CNB