THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 4, 1995 TAG: 9502040292
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
With little debate or fanfare, legislation that would allow public school districts to require students to wear uniforms is sailing through the General Assembly.
The measure, backed by Gov. George F. Allen, has been touted as offering local school officials another option to help control behavior and improve academic performance.
The proposal has attracted bipartisan support and scant opposition.
By votes of 97-0 and 96-0, the House of Delegates this week passed two nearly identical bills relating to student uniforms, and the Senate Education and Health Committee voted 13-1 Thursday to advance a similar version to the Senate floor. The Senate is expected to act Monday.
The legislation directs the state Board of Education and the attorney general's office to draft guidelines for local districts to follow if they decide their students should wear uniforms.
The guidelines would cover parental involvement, legal issues raised by restricting student dress, and the affordability of uniforms. Under the legislation, no state funds could be used to buy uniforms.
The success of the legislation, a secondary piece of the governor's education platform, buoyed the Allen administration and sympathetic legislators who have watched his major initiatives, including charter schools, die unceremoniously.
The student-uniform legislation grew out of a recommendation of Allen's Commission on Champion Schools, appointed last May to come up with ways to improve public education.
``It's not intended to be any kind of dictate from Richmond,'' Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe said. ``I think it's just another example of Gov. Allen trying to provide greater flexibility to local school districts to allow them to determine what works best for them.''
A 1991 effort by Del. Kenneth Melvin, D-Portsmouth, to introduce student uniforms proved controversial. Melvin's bill was watered down to apply only to Portsmouth.
Portsmouth and Petersburg are the only Virginia school districts with legislative permission to require students to wear uniforms, officials said. The only schools in South Hampton Roads to experiment with uniforms are Douglass Park Elementary in Portsmouth and Bowling Park in Norfolk, although other schools in Norfolk and Virginia Beach have been discussing the idea.
The legislation now before the General Assembly would enable all of the state's districts to require uniforms, as long as they followed the Board of Education's guidelines.
``This is just setting up a mechanism in case anybody wanted to go to uniforms,'' said Del. Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach, who sponsored House legislation for the Allen administration. ``I think without this in the code they'd have a hard time enforcing it. It gives them some standing.''
Nationwide, outfitting students in uniforms has become an educational trend, as schools struggle with ways to improve discipline and student performance.
``I do believe strongly that there is a positive correlation between student dress and behavior,'' said William C. Bosher, state schools superintendent.
The sponsor of Allen's uniform legislation in the Senate - Frederick M. Quayle, R-Chesapeake - said uniforms would put poor and affluent students on more equal footing, focus students' attention on academics rather than their clothes, promote school unity and save parents money because they won't have to buy the latest styles.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY EDUCATION SCHOOOL UNIFORMS by CNB