THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By GEORGE W. GRAYSON
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
``A foolish consistency,'' says Emerson, ``is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.'' In the matter of federal grant money, no one could accuse the Allen administration of petty consistency: When convenient, state officials rail against ``federal interference'' in the affairs of the Old Dominion - especially when it involves applying for $7 million of federal money to help improve our educational system. At other times, Cabinet members burn up the phone lines seeking handouts from Washington.
For example, this administration has requested federal disaster aid for three ice storms, two floods and a blizzard. (Only the request arising from the February 1996 ice storm was denied.) Though never shy about requesting assistance for natural disasters, Richmond's mandarins adamantly oppose accepting one thin dime for our public schools through the federal Goals 2000 program.
The problems facing our schools may not appear as dramatic or imminent as threats posed by floods, tornadoes or hurricanes, but they are no less pressing. Ensuring that our children's educational requirements are met is surely as important as securing loans for property damage.
Goals 2000 funds would enhance teaching and learning, improve management and increase parental involvement in the educational system - with an emphasis on schools troubled by low achievement or located in low-income areas. Governor Allen objects that the U.S. Department of Education too heavily encumbers the monies with federal ``strings''; indeed, that, ``There's not only strings. There's a lot of wire and a lot of rope.''
Even as originally written, however, Goals 2000 sported no more strings than most other federal money, millions of dollars of which the state gladly accepts every year. Now, after the recent congressional revisions in the program, the ``ropes and wires'' - never as substantial as depicted - represent no more than gossamer threads.
With oversight boards jettisoned and virtually all federal reporting requirements scrapped from the initiative, the Allen administration should declare victory and take the $7 million in federal tax money that Virginians have already sent across the Potomac. But no: The governor has staked out the moral high ground and will not forsake it even though he's now perched precariously atop a rapidly eroding molehill.
In fact, the U.S. Congress has splendidly affirmed its commitment to local control by allowing individual counties, cities and towns to decide whether to involve themselves in the program even in nonparticipating states, provided the state's board of education gives them the green light. Faced with robust interest from the grass roots, the board now utters vaguely discouraging noises; and the gubernatorial hand-wringing continues.
In repudiating Goals 2000, the governor has ignored the express wishes not only of the General Assembly but of more than two-thirds of Virginia's school districts. He's done so in the name of protecting the commonwealth from undue federal influence - ``influence'' he happily accepts in other circumstances. Will he exert his own brand of government interference by denying localities, many boasting elected school boards, to seek Goals 2000 money on their own? MEMO: George Grayson is a Democratic state delegate from Williamsburg. by CNB