THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, January 10, 1997              TAG: 9701100559
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   43 lines

GOP LEADERS HOPE ALLEN CAN ACCEPT SCHOOL MONEY DEMOCRATS PLAN TO MAKE GOALS 2000 A MAJOR CAMPAIGN ISSUE THIS YEAR.

Republican legislators voiced hope Thursday that Gov. George F. Allen can reach an agreement with federal officials and accept about $8 million in education money under the Goals 2000 program.

Virginia is the only state to refuse the money and has turned down more than $20 million over the past few years. Allen has insisted that the grant, aimed at helping states and localities improve public schools, comes with too many federal strings.

Democrats are hoping to make the program a major issue in this fall's elections, when Virginians will elect a new governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates are up for grabs. They have argued that Allen's refusal to accept the money suggests that the party emphasizes conservative ideology more than common sense.

At a news conference Thursday, leaders of the General Assembly's Republican caucus shied away from saying whether Allen should join the 49 other governors in immediately accepting the money.

Instead, they simply voiced hope that Allen would be successful in ongoing negotiations with the U.S. Department of Education to obtain the money and exempt Virginia from requirements of the program the governor finds onerous.

``I think it's pretty clear that all members of the General Assembly would like to accept the money, but the question is, `Under what conditions?' '' said Sen. Jane H. Woods, R-Fairfax, the caucus' education spokeswoman. ``What we have to do is reach some ground in the middle where we can accept the money under Virginia's conditions.''

Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr., a Democrat, said Allen may be under pressure from fellow Republicans to seek a compromise and remove Goals 2000 as a potential issue this fall.

``My sense is that he's pinned himself in a corner and the governor is seeking a graceful way out of it,'' said Beyer, this year's presumptive Democratic nominee for governor. ``If he can find a way to accept the money, I'm all for it.''

The Allen administration insisted, however, that nothing has changed. ``We're continuing to negotiate with the federal government,'' said Beverly Sgro, state secretary of education.