THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602100256
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Barring a legislative miracle, charter schools were laid to rest in Virginia this year. That yanks a central plank from Gov. George F. Allen's education agenda and disappoints parents and others looking for a better way to educate their children.
In a vote reflecting the commonwealth's divisive debate over the issue, the House of Delegates' Education Committee deadlocked 11-11 Friday on a bill that would have allowed local school boards to grant ``charters'' to individuals or groups, including businesses and teachers, to run experimental schools free of many state regulations.
As of now, Virginia will not be joining 20 other states that since 1991 have approved laws to permit charter schools, one of the hottest new ideas in education reform sweeping the country.
The bill being considered would have let parents and teachers to work with local school boards to define a mission. The legislation would have allowed the school boards to close them if they failed to achieve predetermined goals, including performing up to state academic standards in math, science, social studies and English.
The unusual tie vote on the 22-member panel all but killed the bill this session, legislators said.
``I don't think there's a thing that could change that vote short of divine intervention,'' said Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, co-sponsor of the legislation.
But the Allen administration may try to revive the proposal, using legislative maneuvers.
``It's still early in the session, and it's not over 'til it's over,'' said Ken Stroupe, Allen's spokesman.
Stroupe conceded that the time still may not be right for charter schools, which opponents have managed to kill or bottle up for three consecutive years.
``It's most unfortunate and it's a disappointment,'' Stroupe said. ``It's a common sense proposal that had an enormous potential for improving our public school system.''
The measure was backed by a bipartisan coalition. Del. Paul Councill, D-Southampton, chairman of the Education Committee, signed on with Hamilton to co-sponsor it.
Councill, who chaired a yearlong study committee that attempted to answer opponents' concerns, said he was surprised by Friday's vote. Only two days earlier, members on an education subcommittee voted 4-2 to recommend approval.
``I think it flies in the face of our efforts to give local control to our school boards,'' Councill said. ``It bothers me that we don't have any more faith to let our localities make these decisions.''
Opponents, however, continued to question the need for charter schools and voiced fears that eventually they would siphon money from existing schools and become enclaves for the elite.
``This was a wise decision,'' said Del. Shirley F. Cooper, D-Yorktown, a high school math teacher who voted against the bill. ``We have all the tools we need within the confines of the existing system to be creative, to get clever.''
During a public hearing last month, the bill was criticized by the Virginia chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whose president vowed to fight ``at every turn'' because of fears charter schools would resegregate Virginia's school system.
Many educators shared similar concerns.
``If you start carving out niches for certain groups of people or organizations, you potentially could run into problems of equity,'' said David Blount, a spokesman for the Virginia School Boards Association, which opposed the bill. ``If we have failing schools we need to improve them and all our schools, systematically.''
Proponents said this year's charter school bill would have guarded against elitism, in part because it excludes private, religious or home schools. Also, at least half of the students targeted were to be at risk, identified primarily by social or economic disadvantages.
The bill was toned down from previous versions, including one backed last year by Allen that would have granted charter schools broad waivers from regulations and given school boards limited control.
KEYWORDS: CHARTER SCHOOLS GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB