THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511070095
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: GUEST VIEWPOINT
SOURCE: BY FORREST P. CLAY JR.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
I have been involved in the education system in Virginia for over a half-century as a student and faculty member at several institutions of higher learning, including Old Dominion University.
Most recently I was nominated to become a member of the Norfolk School Board, but as a past chairman of the Norfolk Republican Party, my nomination wasn't given anything but ``due consideration.''
The one constant in all those years is the observation that colleges and universities in Virginia have been underfunded, and those in South Hampton Roads have been grossly underfunded.
The future prosperity of our citizens can only be assured if students in eastern Virginia have access to first-class educational programs that prepare them for jobs that are worthy of their highest aspirations and abilities.
By its very nature, education is a very expensive endeavor, and the state has to take steps to see that the entire system is efficient and effective. To instill some discipline in the secondary school system and to augment the proposed performance standards, the state should require that students seeking admission to state-supported universities be enrolled in the college preparatory course in the high school they are attending. This would seem both reasonable and rational, but unless the state changes its enrollment-driven financial support formula for universities, such a policy will be met with massive resistance.
Under the present admissions policies at all too many state colleges and universities, the academic preparation of the entering students is such that some 50 percent of the entering freshman class will either drop out or flunk out within two years. The conclusion that one can generally draw from that fact is that a large number of students admitted to state-supported universities are unprepared for college work.
Each Virginia student enrolled in a state-supported college or university in effect receives a tuition supplement equal to the tuition they pay since the cost of instruction is usually about twice the tuition paid by the in-state student. Hence, students who flunk out have in effect received and squandered thousands of dollars in state aid.
Students who refuse to complete a college preparatory course in high school but nonetheless want to go on to a college degree should first have to either go to a private college or enroll in a community college to complete the work necessary to be admitted into an advanced program at a state-supported university. Such a requirement would be good for the taxpayers and best for the student.
In another matter, the governance of the secondary school system is the subject of much debate in Virginia, and the time for elected school boards seems to have arrived. Certainly, public discussion of education issues would be well-served by the change from appointed school boards to elected school boards - and the elective process is hardly more ``political'' than the appointive process.
The public school system is the largest and most expensive communal endeavor of our citizens. For instance, the tax money spent per pupil in Norfolk each year approaches the tuition at Norfolk Academy. In general, the results are quite different. There are a number of reasons why this is so, but whatever the reasons, the quality of the public schools will not improve without effective competition for both students and funding.
A state-funded voucher system already exists for students attending private colleges and universities, hence the voucher concept seems to be constitutional. Granting that, then, a funding principle should be tried under which state money in the form of a tuition voucher would follow the student rather than go directly to the school. MEMO: Mr. Clay lives on Westover Avenue in Norfolk.
by CNB