THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9605310027
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 48 lines
Virginia Beach isn't the only locality in the state singing the elected-school-board blues. Fairfax County's first elected school panel is also causing some hand-wringing among the locals.
Against the backdrop of an 8-4 partisan split in which Democrats hold the edge, the council meetings go on . . . and on. Average length is five hours. Far more votes are taken than with the old board, and divisions spring up even on procedural matters.
According to The Washington Post, one recent debate stretched so long that Superintendent Robert Spillane began flashing a light on his desk out of boredom.
A newspaper analysis found that the old board acted unanimously last year on 31 of 51 votes involving policy matters. This year, only six policy votes have been without dissent. Valuable time is lost, critics say, debating such matters as sex education and the federal government's role in the schools.
Fairfax County residents can only be grateful that the partisan split on the board is not more narrow. Then the shenanigans might really intensify. Already, Democrats complain that the Republican members are trying to set them up with votes that will be targeted in the next election. Conservative Christian activists on the board say they are simply pushing issues that are important to their constituents.
The result is what opponents feared when Virginia became the last state in the union to allow popular election of school boards: social and cultural wars fought out in the schools.
Fortunately, the Virginia Beach-Fairfax tales are not the only examples of what can happen when elected school boards replace appointed ones. In some other localities - Richmond, for instance - the elections have brought greater diversity and more independence to the boards. In Prince William and Loudoun counties elected boards are pushing for increased school funding. The old school boards, beholden to city councils and county boards of supervisors for their appointments, were less willing to buck the spending recommendations of city councils and county boards of supervisors.
The success or failure of elected school boards in Virginia will be judged on a case-by-case basis. So far, the F's in a few localities are being offset by passing grades in others. Having started down this course, Virginians can only hope that the final average is above par and that communities where the experiment doesn't work won't hesitate to switch back to the old-school way of doing business.
KEYWORDS: ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD by CNB