THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 47 lines
Gov. George F. Allen says that Virginia has stood its ground and will be accepting Goals 2000 money on its own terms.
Whatever.
The important development is that millions of dollars due the commonwealth will no longer be parceled out to other states instead. If the governor needs to save face by claiming to have tamed the federal behemoth, it's a small price to pay for a return to fiscal sanity.
The fact is that no special concessions have been granted Virginia because of Allen's intransigence on Goals 2000. And in accepting the money, Virginia will be treated no differently than other states that have opted to use most of it for technology.
Already, Alabama, Idaho and Wyoming are using almost 100 percent of their Goals 2000 money to place computers in schools. Virginia can now join them, not because the federal government has capitulated but because the right always existed.
Allen may have switched course in part because his position would have hamstrung Republican candidates next fall. While the money at stake was not huge - $7 million or so a year - any schoolchild could understand that Virginia was on the losing side of the equation.
Forty-nine states had accepted Goals 2000 money. One had not. There was no evidence that the children in the Fearless 49 had been subjected to mind control or were suffering because money was being spent in their behalf.
What voters could understand all too easily was that money being sent to Washington by Virginia taxpayers was being distributed elsewhere. In 1994, Virginia lost $1.74 million in available funds; in 1995, the loss was $6.6 million.
The state stood to forfeit $6.2 million if it did not apply for this year's funds by the end of June. Next year it would have lost $8.68 million.
Campaigning next fall, Democrats may point to the long debate over Goals 2000 as an example of Allen's deference to zealots within his party. But the issue will be less potent now because of the switch in direction.
Sometimes it's best to cut your losses and accept defeat. Declaring victory while you're at it is a time-honored strategy. Few will be fooled, but many will be glad that Virginia is finally on the right course.
Meanwhile, Allen can only hope that most Virginians will have forgotten the episode before his personal Goal 2000 clicks into gear - a likely race that year for the U.S. Senate.