THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507160037
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 386 lines
Many Virginians told us they worry about the state's future - and their children's future. They fear politicians aren't worried enough. As we move toward the fall elections, it's time to ask: What do ;you want?
Can Patricia Radcliffe and her husband possibly save enough money to send their four children to college?
When Frances Little's daughter grows up, will she have to leave the Roanoke Valley to find a decent job?
Will there be enough computers in Christiansburg classrooms so that Jan Poltis' three kids can one day compete for opportunities?
You won't hear these parents' names pop up in the General Assembly's grand debates. You won't see their faces on punchy television ads soliciting your vote.
But to these parents, and to many of the 62 Virginians who participated in conversations held across the state by The Virginian-Pilot and The Roanoke Times, the future of our children is everything.
They are worried about how this fall's crucial General Assembly elections might affect that future. They aren't sure that the politicians are worried enough.
They fret that schools are not producing graduates who can hold the jobs of the future; that, if the schools aren't good enough, those jobs might not even be there; that shortsighted squabbling and quick-fix politics are squandering the future.
They said it's up to all of us to decide the direction of the state, not simply remain spectators to it. Many acknowledged that they haven't given their representatives a list of clear expectations.
The purpose of the conversations was to learn what citizens bring to the table for this fall's elections before the rhetoric of candidates and consultants begins. The idea was, if the citizens spend some time this summer talking about what matters to them, perhaps this fall the candidates will too.
At the end of one two-hour discussion, Martin Farrier from Giles County put it this way: ``What do we want? Everybody wants industrial growth to have more jobs, we want better education, but we want to keep what we have. We don't want to raise taxes or anything. What signals have you given (your Assembly candidates)? You haven't given him anything.''
So what do we want?
The conversations bore little resemblance to much of the high-volume debate that has dominated Richmond in recent years. The citizens had no interest in discussing perennial hot-button topics such as abortion rights, gun control and school prayer.
``All of these things are nonissues that attract a lot of debate, but they're not the main focus,'' said Dean Heffelman, a Norfolk business manager. ``They're just distractions to get people off what's really going down.''
Nor was there much patience for Republican Gov. George F. Allen's claims that Virginia government is bloated and inefficient and his demands to reduce state income taxes and the bureaucracy.
Many of the citizens acknowledged that they don't know a lot about Virginia government; only one in three could name his or her state senator and delegate.
Even so, they were aware of Virginia's ranking in the bottom half of states in funding its public schools, colleges and universities. Those who beefed about high taxes blamed Washington and their local government. No one complained about state levies, which rank 46th lowest out of the 50 states. A few said they'd be willing to pay more if they could see a tangible result.
What the people wanted to discuss was making ends meet in today's difficult economy and fears that standards of living will decline for their children. They spoke about a growing restlessness and a sense of despair among high school and college graduates.
``We're missing a whole generation, from 18 to 28,'' said Little, a Roanoke graphics designer. ``They go away and they don't come back. There's nothing here for them.''
Perhaps Radcliffe, a Montgomery County educator, summed up the desires best with this simple phrase: ``We need to put our children first.''
The Virginia that many participants dream about in 2005 will be a magnet for high technology, non-polluting industries. To get there, they say, will take a fundamental restacking of state priorities.
The state will need a qualified work force. And that, in many minds, means that politicians must appropriate a greater proportion of state tax dollars to education and job training.
To combat sagging revenues without raising taxes, the legislature has held funding increases for public schools to slightly below the rate of inflation during the past five years. State aid to colleges and universities has been cut deeply, causing tuitions to soar. Today, Virginia ranks 43rd in tax support per college student. Tuitions at state colleges are the third-highest in the nation.
In the eyes of Bob Cave, a Fairfax County father of three, education ``is the single thing we do as a society, especially in this knowledge-based economy that we're all going into, that will determine whether you have or don't have.''
Across the state, citizens gave a divergent, often competing list of priorities for education spending.
To Judy Beatty of Fairfax, it meant building more public schools and lowering class sizes. Carol Pinkney of Norfolk wanted to see more college scholarships created. Brenda Poff of Copper Hill wanted computers for rural classrooms and a leveling of disparity in per pupil spending between the state's rich and poor school districts. Marilyn Larsen of Fairfax wanted extensive vocational training programs for teens who aren't college-bound.
Radcliffe of Montgomery County wants the state to somehow assure hard-working parents that they will be able to afford to send their children to college.
``My father used to work overtime to pay my tuition,'' she said. ``He'd say, `What's your tuition? Got to work overtime,' and there was enough money to do that. Now, if you don't work 10 years to send your child to school, you're in trouble.''
Some participants warned that more cash is not a cure-all for the state's education woes.
``It's really not about money that makes the success of the school,'' said Charles D. Taylor, a Norfolk clinical therapist. He argued that the state must first insist on tougher standards for teachers and students.
But a significant majority seemed to share the sentiments of Michael Van Haelewyn, a Roanoke YMCA employee, who said: ``If we could spend money on education and take it away from other areas, I'd have no problem with that.''
At each conversation, people expressed amazement that the state is launching a major prison-building program at the same time education funding is suffering.
``If you don't have education to teach what is right and wrong, to where a child has a hope for the future of bettering himself, then you look at a life of crime,'' said David L. Simmons, a retired Salem resident. ``But if you take a budget of more prisons and you're cutting education, what are you telling the people?''
The debate over prisons vs. schools was a major dividing point between Republicans and Democrats during last winter's General Assembly session. Allen initially proposed borrowing $409 million for a five-year prison-building program while holding the line on public education and reducing tax appropriations for colleges and universities.
Democrats scaled back the prison program and added money to education.
Allen campaigned in 1993 with a promise to end parole and lengthen prison sentences for violent felons. The General Assembly enacted his popular program last year. Now that the bill for his program is coming due, many citizens at the conversations wondered whether Allen has imposed a Band-Aid solution to crime.
``I think prison is a monument to the failure of stopping crime,'' said John Burns, a retired engineer from Fairfax.
Citizens mentioned several other policies that they said indicate state politicians may be more interested in quick-fix answers. Frequently mentioned was the state's new welfare-reform program that will give recipients two years to find a job or lose benefits.
``They're saying they're going to put them off welfare in two years,'' said Adele Whitener, an adult educator in Chesapeake. ``Well fine, but what are they going to do? There's no jobs.''
There was an overwhelming sense that state politicians are losing touch with the values that affect citizens' everyday lives.
And there was deep concern that the gap will grow larger as Virginia enters a new era of partisan infighting.
Republicans need gain only three seats in the 40-member Senate and three in the 100-member House of Delegates to control the General Assembly for the first time. Allen plans to barnstorm the state this fall arguing he needs Republican majorities to enact his agenda of slashing taxes and the bureaucracy.
That's not a pleasing prospect to most of the citizens we talked with, who view partisanship as a cancer that destroys a politician's ability to seek constructive, long-range solutions.
``I guess what I really want is someone who's got some practical answers,'' said Mary Roper, a part-time worker in a Fairfax elementary school.
``I don't want an ideologue. If you've got an idea, let's give it a try. If it doesn't work, let's not be embarrassed to say, `Hey, this isn't working; let's try something else.''' MEMO: WHAT YOU SAID THE REAL ISSUES ARE
EDUCATION
VITAL NEED
``If we could spend money on education and take it away from other
areas, I'd have no problem with that.''
Mike Van Haelewyn, Roanoke.
Virginians are concerned about budget cuts and feel education is not
an area in which the state can afford to cut corners. Yet tax money
should be spent responsibly, most agree. There is a conflict between the
two pressures - on one hand, to give the schools the money they need,
and on the other, not to pour good money after bad.
Q.
When, if ever, is it appropriate to cut spending on schools?
If you favor increasing spending on schools, what would you be
willing to give up in exchange?
JOBS SKILLS
``One of the ideas I've heard bounced around is that each child
coming out of high school must have a trade or a marketable skill,
whether or not they go on to college.'' - Mary Roper, Fairfax.
Many Virginians wonder whether the schools sufficiently emphasize
trades and job skills. That has to be balanced, however, against the
liberal arts education many students want and, if they're going to
college, may need.
Q.
Should every student go to college? Should every student have to
learn a trade?
How can the schools decide what training the students need?
SCHOOLS VS. PRISONS
``One thing that I would ask, too, is why they're cutting aspects of
education and then increasing the prison budget, building prisons and
everything. That seems somewhat short-sighted to me. Education is the
future, we need to support that.'' - Bill McDonald, Montgomery County
Prisons are often promoted as making the streets safe for our
children. But many Virginians express greater concern about
shortchanging education than about any threat to their personal safety
from crime. It is still not clear whether they are willing to wait on
the long-term solutions offered by education.
Q.
How can the value of education be balanced in state spending against
the need for public safety, particularly building prisons?
HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS
``If you go up to Northern Virginia, you would think you were in
Harvard. If you go to Wise County, you would wonder, are they still in
Virginia?'' - Pat Radcliffe in Roanoke.
Providing equal educational opportunities is important to many across
the state, although the feeling is strongest in western areas. Yet this
does not address the issue of how taxpayers in wealthier parts of the
state would feel about their dollars going to other regions.
Q.
Is it important that the state spend as much money in a small school
system in western Virginia as it does in large, relatively wealthy
schools in Northern Virginia? Why?
How should Virginia decide how much to spend on schools in different
parts of the state?
TAXES
CUTTING THEM
``If you get a $100 tax refund from the state, of course that's good
and dandy. But what kind of long term impact is that going to have for
the future of the state? . . . When there is a tax deduction and at the
same time there is an increase of debt, then that's not really good.
That's just a robbing-Paul-to-give-to-Peter type of idea.'' - Kwang Choi
of Virginia Beach.
Everybody wants to keep as much of their income as possible.
Virginians aren't volunteering to pay more taxes. Yet many insisted that
they don't need tax cuts. Are they being genuinely unselfish and
thinking of Virginia first? Certainly they said that's what more
politicians need to do.
When a politician proposes a tax cut, what information do you need to
hear before you decide whether it's a good idea?
Does such a proposal make you more or less likely to vote for them?
RETURN FOR THE MONEY
``I don't think it's the taxes, I don't think people mind paying a
lot of money for things. But you want a result. You can have results
with the state taking the lead without raising people's taxes. . . If
they could see it going for something really important, something for
the kids to keep them out of prison, I don't think they'd mind.'' - John
Burns of Fairfax.
There's the main point Virginians wanted to make: they want
responsible spending. Still, they can't point to exactly what's
irresponsible, because they're not that familiar with the details of the
state's finances. They rely instead on their instincts, and a certain
native suspicion of politicians and bureaucrats.
How well do you think the state spends your tax dollars?
What responsibility do you have to see that your money is spent
wisely?
``How are we going to pay for all of the things that we need to do,
and how do we determine what is truly necessary and what is truly not?''
- Floyd Childress III, of Christiansburg.
PARTISAN POLITICS
NO HELP?
``I don't know what we can do, but we have to examine something very
carefully, and that is, party politics is killing us. It's preventing
progress. Is anything going to get done . . . if the other guys don't
want to see it pushed through because a Republican or a Democrat was the
one to propose it in the first place?'' - Marilyn Larson of Fairfax.
The two-party system, a mainstay of politics in the state and nation
for generations, doesn't leave many Virginians feeling patriotic. It
sounds to them as if the parties are getting in the way of solving
problems.
Do you believe partisan politics helps Virginia solve its problems or
stands in the way of solving them? Why?
What role do political parties play?
JOY OF COMBAT
``They spend a lot of time fighting amongst themselves, Democrats,
Republicans. They're fighting each other instead of listening to
everybody . . . I feel like they're just patronizing us, the voters,
and they're really concerned with the Democrat-Republican floor wars.''
- Frances Little, of Botetourt County.
Virginians like Little see the main business of parties being
conflict. Yet the struggle between the parties is supposed to be one of
the checks and balances of the system, a way of testing and clarifying
spending and policies.
What is the value of party ideology? What is the value of compromise?
How do we make both values work?
IDEAS OVER POLITICS
``I want somebody who's got some practical answers. I don't want
ideology. If you've got an idea, let's give it a try. If it doesn't
work, let's not be so embarrassed to say, hey, this isn't working, let's
try something else.'' - Mary Roper, Fairfax.
That seems simple enough. In practice, however, the parties exist
because they express the beliefs people hold, beliefs that shape their
ideas. If you abolished the Democrats and the Republicans, different
parties would spring up.
If politics went well in Virginia, what role would the political
parties play in the legislature?
How can parties shape political agendas without blocking progress?
JOBS AND THE ECONOMY
TOO FEW?
``The jobs around here are low paying. We tried working for a while
and realized that that wasn't good enough, that wasn't going to make a
living. We had to do it on our own. I don't see how most people around
here make it.'' - Jan Politis, Christiansburg.
Many Virginians, particularly in the western areas of the state, say
there aren't enough jobs available. They are not willing to move to
where more jobs are, in the eastern portion of the state, although they
say their children often do move away to find jobs.
Has the growth and wealth of the ``golden crescent'' - northern
Virginia to Richmond to Hampton Roads - failed to spill over into other
parts of the state?
Should people simply move if they can't find good jobs where they
are?
MAYBE NOT
``I have more work than I have employees to do that work. I'm
constantly trying to find skilled people to get the work done that I
need done. And I've added 12 people in the last year. There are
high-paying jobs. The education system just isn't producing (skilled
workers) at the rate we're needing them.'' - Larry Maccherone,
Christiansburg.
This is the other view of the problem - too many high school
graduates aren't equipped for this age of high-tech, skilled jobs.
They're working at fast-food restaurants instead. In other words, the
system has let them down. This runs counter to the traditional notion of
pulling yourself up and making the best of your situation.
What is the responsibility of the state to see that people leave
school with marketable job skills?
Is it simply each person's task to get the best job they can?
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
``Now kids are getting out of school and they want to start at the
top and work up higher. . . and that's not the way it works. In this day
and age, you might have to start low on the totem pole. When the
government comes in and creates these jobs that nobody wants because
they're low-paying jobs, you know, the government's done their part.
They've offered these opportunities. We have to look at ourselves and
say, `What do we want? Do we want to take advantage of what they've
offered us?' '' - Mike Van Haelewyn, Roanoke.
Here the tension is clear. Perhaps young people expect too much in
the job market. Maybe the jobs are there. But maybe it's up to the
community to decide what kind of jobs it wants and whether state
government should help provide them.
Who is best suited to create jobs, each community or region or the
state government?
How can a community decide whether it has the right mix of jobs?
-- Compiled by Tony Wharton
EDITOR'S NOTE: WHAT DO YOU THINK?
What are we missing? You've heard from Virginians across the state.
Are there other issues the campaign should address? Write Tony Wharton
at 921 N. Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake, VA 23320. Or send e-mail to
publife(AT)infi.net.
Groups interested in discussing these issues, such as the PTA, League
of Women Voters, etc., should contact The Virginian-Pilot. As part of
our citizen-based coverage of the legislative elections this year, the
newspaper may send a reporter to cover or at least listen to your
discussion. Please call Tony Germanotta, Public Life Editor, at
436-6389.
ILLUSTRATION: Color drawings
Photos
Cave
Poff
Montgomery
Radcliffe
Choi
Little
Roper
Van Haelewyn
KEYWORDS: PUBLIC JOURNALISM by CNB