DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997               TAG: 9703010283
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   51 lines

BEYER URGES EDUCATORS TO KEEP FIGHTING FOR STANDARDS

Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer Jr. urged early childhood educators to continue their fight to maintain day-care standards Friday, saying safety should not be sacrificed for affordability.

Beyer spoke at the Rally for Children during a state conference of the Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education.

He urged the educators to lobby Gov. George F. Allen to sign bills recently approved by the General Assembly that would maintain existing standards for teacher-student ratios in child-care centers and the educational requirements of day-care center staff.

The bills are an attempt to keep the governor-appointed Child Day Care Council from reducing educational requirements of child-care staff, and from increasing the number of children one staff person can care for. The council, which is streamlining the state regulations, has proposed dropping the requirement that lead teachers have a high school diploma, and also proposed that teachers in some classes be allowed to care for more children than current regulations.

``For so many children, a day-care center provider is his or her first teacher, so we need to at least expect them to have a GED or a high school diploma,'' said Beyer, who is expected to be the Democratic candidate for governor this fall.

Allen has already indicated that he plans to veto the bills.

Julie Overy, Allen's deputy press secretary, said the governor believes the bills are unnecessary, and that the day-care regulations do not belong in state code.

``The substance of the bill addresses an issue that is not even a reality,'' Overy said. ``It's making a big issue out of something that is not an issue. It's viewed as grandstanding.''

The Child Day Care Council has said easing the day-care regulations will help increase the amount of day care and make it more affordable, a critical need during welfare reform.

Beyer, however, believes the day-care standards should stay as they are at least until the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission completes a study of the state's child-care system, which is now underway.

Beyer also told the educators that more work needs to be done to improve education by raising standards, increasing mentoring programs and funneling more money into early childhood programs for at-risk 4- and 5-year-olds.

The Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education convention, which has drawn about 2,200 educators of young children, will continue through today at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel and the Omni Waterside Hotel. ILLUSTRATION: Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer Jr. wants educators to lobby the

governor to maintain existing day-care standards.

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