DATE: Saturday, September 6, 1997           TAG: 9709050032

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Ediorial 

                                            LENGTH:   79 lines

GOVERNOR'S RACE: THE MISSING AGENDA CRUMBLING SCHOOLS THIRD IN A SERIES ON ISSUES THE CANDIDATES HAVE NOT YET ADDRESSED

In prosperous and growing Chesterfield County, 50,000 children went off to classes Tuesday in schools supplemented by 250 trailers, euphemistically dubbed "learning cottages."

In neighboring Richmond, where the average school building is more than 60 years old, elementary students in the poverty-stricken Blackwell area sat down in noisy, century-old classrooms.

At Yorktown Middle School on the Peninsula, teachers greeted the arrival of the technological age in classrooms that have one electrical outlet in the front and one in the back, both operating off fuse boxes.

From east to west, north to south, Virginia cities and counties are grappling with insufficient, inadequate and outdated classrooms. In a survey last year, superintendents estimated maintenance and capital improvement needs at a stunning $6 billion.

But is either candidate in Virginia's gubernatorial race wringing their hands over the matter? No. In fact, neither Donald S. Beyer Jr. nor James S. Gilmore III is talking above a whisper about the staggering needs.

Instead, they're cheerily promising to return hundreds of millions of dollars to Virginians by curtailing the personal property tax on cars and trucks.

Neither candidate is ignoring education. In fact, both say its their top priority. Beyer would raise teachers salaries to the national average; Gilmore would employ 4,000 new teachers.

But measured in dollars and cents, promised tax relief would be the single largest new initiative of each candidate. Gilmore's plan is the most perilous. Estimates on how much it would cost range as high as $2.9 billion over five years. Beyer's more modest version would strip the state of an estimated $1 billion over the same period.

Meanwhile, the funds designated for education initiatives are merely a downpayment on overall needs cited by many educators.

Higher education advocates argue that state colleges and universities have been seriously underfunded in most recent years. A working paper presented to the State Council of Higher Education this week cited general operating and student aid needs totalling an extra $300 million over the next biennium.

And that doesn't include $823 million in capital outlay requests, over half of which have been deemed top priority by council staff.

On the K-12 front, there are substantial unfunded needs as well. In addition to school maintenance and construction, major sums need to be invested in retraining teachers to deal with advancing technology and new statewide "standards of learning." Upgraded graduation and school accreditation standards demand that the state invest more in assisting students and schools that don't make the mark.

As identified by the candidates, teacher salaries and crowded classrooms are important, costly concerns.

Capital needs have been largely unaddressed by the candidates. Their sidestepping of the school construction issue is made easier by Virginia tradition.

Historically, state government has been a major contributor to the day-to-day operating costs of schools. But when it came to buildings, local governments picked up the tab through real estate and personal property taxes.

Current needs are so critical, however, that the state should abandon its hands-off policy. There is even precedent. Under the post-World War II leadership of Gov. John S. Battle, Virginia invested state money in local school buildings.

The "Educational Infrastructure Fund" that Battle created to help localities was born of the necessity to keep pace with the baby boom. Similar need exists today as schools built for that generation decay and near the end of their useful life.

The money that the candidates have earmarked for property tax relief would be better invested in helping pay the debt service on school construction projects.

Trade those "learning cottages" in for real bricks and mortar. Let inner-city, poor children know how it feels to attend a modern, state-of-the art schools. Rewire Yorktown Middle School and many others like it. Elevate community over self-interest, and we'll all win this election.

If the candidates don't think aging schools are a real issue in Virginia, they should say so. But if they agree they are a pressing issue, they have a responsibility to explain how they'd pay the multibillion dollar bill that is facing the state.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu