THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 28, 1995 TAG: 9501280208
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Charter-school legislation in Virginia appears to be an idea whose time has not come - at least not in the General Assembly.
In their first political test Friday, two bills on charter schools, a centerpiece of Gov. George F. Allen's plans for education reform, failed to muster the votes needed to move out of a House subcommittee.
Legislators instead voted to recommend a yearlong study of the concept, a grassroots movement vaunting parental choice that has spread into about a dozen states since Minnesota passed the first charter school law in 1991.
In a charter-school program, parents, teachers or others apply for a charter from local school boards to run schools that are free of most local and state regulations, and must produce certain educational results.
``What we've got to find out is what's best for our children, and right now, the evidence on charter schools is split,'' said Alan A. Diamonstein, D-Newport News, chairman of the legislative panel. ``Why should we gamble with the lives of our children?''
Diamonstein was quick to note that the subcommittee vote was intended only to delay action this session and was not a rejection of the charter-school concept.
``The concept is good,'' he said. ``I just don't think the time is right.''
He suggested there might be support to approve a pilot charter-school project in Virginia as part of a study.
Allen administration officials remained upbeat, denying that the subcommittee vote was a setback.
Allen's Secretary of Education, Beverly Sgro, who testified before the subcommittee, said afterward that there was no need for more study. The legislature debated several bills last year that went nowhere, and a panel appointed last May by Allen, the Commission on Champion Schools, spent several months studying the issue.
The governor has not given up on getting a charter-school bill through the General Assembly this session, she said.
``We think the time has come to act,'' Sgro said. ``I did not hear anyone say, `Absolutely not.' ''
State schools Superintendent William C. Bosher Jr., who also testified in support of the Allen bill, said that a study would keep the issue alive and was ``not an unreasonable approach'' short of passage of a bill.
The House Education Committee will vote on the subcommittee recommendation Monday. Diamonstein, a House leader, said he expects the committee to support a study. Committee Chairman J. Paul Councill Jr., D-Franklin, already has prepared a resolution calling for a study.
Legislators were hesitant to predict the outcome. A separate charter bill also has been introduced in the Senate.
``I would think it has less of a chance to pass than yesterday,'' Diamonstein said.
Del. Jay Katzen, R-Warrenton, House sponsor of the Allen bill, and Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, who has a bill of his own, told the subcommittee Friday that local school districts would decide whether to approve charter schools.
``Our program does not aim at imposing charter schools at all,'' Katzen said. ``If you want it, fine. It's a cafeteria line.''
Allen has championed the schools as a way to increase parental choice, spur innovation and raise accountability for academic achievement.
But critics worry that charter schools would divert public education funds from existing schools, contain hidden expenses and cater to conservative special interest groups.
Sgro countered that many charter schools in other states are geared toward ``at-risk'' students, including kids with learning disabilities or those unable to fit into a traditional classroom setting.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY EDUCATION CHARTER SCHOOLS by CNB