DATE: Friday, August 22, 1997               TAG: 9708220800

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, D.C.                  LENGTH:  104 lines

TOP BEACH EDUCATOR TAKES FUNDING BID TO WASHINGTON

Virginia Beach School Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney took his plea for a bond referendum all the way to the nation's capital - and educators from across the country had him covered, including the U.S. secretary of education.

Representing South Hampton Roads, Jenney spoke his mind Thursday morning in a Department of Education auditorium before a roomful of reporters and a C-SPAN viewing audience. His views and those of other panelists came as part of the annual ``Back to School'' report issued by the department.

The focus of this year's special report is the coming influx of 13- to 18-year-olds in the nation's school systems. Projected growth is staggering, as are the unmet needs to accommodate these incoming high schoolers.

In all, the United States is in need of about 6,000 new schools and about 2 million new teachers, U.S. Secretary Richard W. Riley said. Projections for the West and South - including Virginia and North Carolina - show the most marked rates of growth during the next 10 years. The National Center for Education Statistics compiled the report.

Jenney was one of four school officials - others hailing from California, Florida and New York - invited to share their insights at the news conference.

``The findings of this report are very straightforward,'' Riley said. ``Educating all these young people is very much a national issue and a local crisis in many school districts around this nation that deserves our full attention.''

Jenney and others around South Hampton Roads know that crisis. His press kit included pictures of Salem High School, which is more than 600 students above capacity, and W.T. Cooke Elementary, the crumbling school that has become a local poster child for aging infrastructure.

``While there is demand in the faster growing neighborhoods for new schools, in the older, more settled areas, we are facing the pressing needs that come with aging schools,'' Jenney said.

One solution he and others offered is the bond referendum. For school districts strapped for cash with state and federal money dwindling, bonds can be a key way to borrow the money needed for construction and renovation of schools. But need doesn't always translate to money.

Broward County, Fla., for example, sprouts portable trailers like the state does oranges, said panelist Rayfield Henderson, a high school principal there. Yet, Broward voters this year turned down a referendum to ease the distress on its school system.

The Virginia Beach School Board wants to try its luck with voters in November, proposing a similar referendum. It would raise real estate taxes to pay for renovating the city's eight oldest schools.

The Beach City Council isn't quite convinced. It has until Sept. 2 to call for a fall vote.

One concern is that bonds can be almost as damaging as they are helpful to a city's long-term financial outlook, said Virginia Beach Councilwoman Louisa M. Strayhorn. She watched the conference on C-SPAN.

Considering how much debt the city can afford to take on and its standing as a good investment through its bond rating is a tenuous balancing act, Strayhorn said.

Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf is quick to point out that the Beach has not ignored its school growth issues. Unlike many of its Hampton Roads neighbors, 17 new schools have opened in the Beach in the past 10 years. ``I doubt anyone can match that record,'' Oberndorf added.

Still, more school districts locally could resemble Broward County's, and other high schools across the nation will if trends continue, according to Riley's figures.

The number of children in the lower grades will level off and then decrease in the coming decade. Just the opposite will be the case in upper grades, where national enrollment numbers will grow by 13 percent, according to the projections. In Virginia, growth will be 19.5 percent among ninth- through 12th-graders, 27.1 percent in North Carolina.

Not only will the enrollment be higher in these grades, so will the associated costs. Qualified staff and buildings prepped for 21st century technology are more expensive in the high school ranks, sometimes twice that of elementary and middle school, Thursday's panel said. Without these schools and teachers, the quality of education will drop, despite increased standards, observers said.

Local school administrators have been scratching their heads trying to figure out how to fund what most agree are necessary investments. It's not coming from the states. And some in Congress question the need for the federal government to involve itself deeper in what has traditionally been a local issue, educating young people.

Riley insisted that aiding localities is a federal concern and draped his words with a Mom-and-apple-pie theme, appealing especially to grandparents like himself.

``The education of these students is our patriotic duty,'' he said. ``These young people will build and lead this country in the next millennium.

``I want to urge these senior citizens to roll up their sleeves again to help out, that when school bond issues come up for a vote, that senior citizens will look with some favor upon them.''

Drafting older people to the cause won't be a snap, though, Ed Kreyling said. A year ago, he started the Parent to Parent group, which helps place Virginia Beach seniors in volunteer school positions such as tutors or teacher's aides. He has struggled to get his peers involved.

``It's going to be very difficult to get older people in any numbers to do work,'' Kreyling said. ``The education of someone else's children is not your top priority, usually.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

GROWTH TRENDS IN EDUCATION

Public and private school enrollment will hit a record this fall

with more than 52 million students nationally in kindergarten

through grade 12. That number is expected to rise each year for the

next decade.

Among high schoolers, the growth will be above average in the

West and South, with Virginia and North Carolina among the top 15.

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