DATE: Friday, October 3, 1997               TAG: 9710030041

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B11  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: Keith Monroe 

                                            LENGTH:   87 lines

POOR SCHOOLS PUT STATE AND REGION AT COMPETITIVE DISADVANTAGEIT WOULD BE PLEASANT TO SUPPOSE THAT THE REST OF THE STATE DRAGS DOWN HAMPTON ROADS, BUT IN FACT NORTHERN VIRGINIA ELEVATES THE STATE AVERAGE.

``And how are the schools?''

Sooner or later, the question comes up in any attempt to lure new employees - or employers - to Hampton Roads. And an honest answer risks queering every deal.

You can show prospects the site for their plant or the office they'd occupy. You can discuss how much they'll be paid or how little they'll be taxed. You can describe cultural amenities, a pleasant climate, the joy of water sports. You can show them nice neighborhoods and handsome homes, but eventually the question arrives that recruiters can't answer.

``And how are the schools?''

Twice in the past month, I've sat at dinners with attractive couples who were being courted by Hampton Roads employers. They had the kinds of skills, the energy and enthusiasm that would make them assets to our region. They loved our weather and could imagine buying a boat. They thought the cost of housing was mouth-watering. But they also had children. And so they asked the question.

``And how are the schools?''

How does a Hampton Roads booster answer that one? Should we tell the hot prospect that Virginia is below the national average in the number of high school graduates who go on to college? That half of community college students need remedial course work? That tuition at Virginia's state schools is the fifth highest in the nation while the percentage of university budgets funded by the state ranks us 44th? Should potential recruits be told that Virginia only meets 35 percent of the financial aid needs of its students? No sale!

Often, we compare ourselves statistically to other southeastern states in order to look comparatively good. But having educational bragging rights when compared with Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi is fairly pathetic. It's like boasting of the coolest seat in hell.

And even in the southeast, Virginia is not necessarily top dog. In Virginia, faculty pay is below average and the best and the brightest are leaving the state. Hundreds of millions in needed capital improvements are unfunded. Meanwhile, neighboring North Carolina spends $460 million more per year on higher education than Virginia, 57 percent more per student.

The K-12 picture is no better. There, $6.3 billion in infrastructure needs await attention. A whopping 52 percent of schools have deferred maintenance needs, 43 percent use temporary classrooms and 30 percent of classrooms are overcrowded even by Virginia's low standards.

Virginia ranks 30th among states in the number of students finishing high school - below average. In tests of fourth-grade math, it ranks 26th - below average. In state and local spending for education, it ranks 28th - below average.

Is this a record that enthusiastically can be sold to the kinds of people we need to recruit in order to compete globally? Bring your children to Virginia - a C-minus, D-plus kind of state? I don't think so.

It would be pleasant to suppose that the rest of the state drags down Hampton Roads, but in fact Northern Virginia elevates the state average. The national average for SAT scores, for instance, is 1016. The Virginia average is 1003. But the best South Hampton Roads city, Virginia Beach, averages 999, with the other cities of the region trailing down to 860 - even more below average. Of area high schools, 23 of 26 scored below average on SAT results.

Of course, it's possible to get on a private school's waiting list. One's children can become well-educated at several local schools if they can get admitted. It's necessary to be (a) prosperous, (b) well-connected and (c) have a child who is academically above average going in - so as not to drag down the school's average. But that doesn't make for much of a regional sales pitch. It's the public schools most employers and employees worry about.

And if a potential recruit has a learning-disabled child, prospects are bleak. Educating such children is expensive, so public schools are under pressure to provide less help to fewer students. Schools specializing in dyslexia can help such children, and many cities play host to one. Working down the Eastern seaboard, such schools are available in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Altanta. But not in Hampton Roads.

How are the schools here?

Not good enough to make us competitive when we try to attract new employees and employers. And until the problem is addressed, our only recourse is to change the subject. But people bright enough to ask the question are bright enough to find the answer. Statistics on educational performance are part of the public record. Virginia may try to sweep them under the rug. But above-average states can be counted on to bring them back up.

So long as our schools are a liability rather than an asset, our economic-development prospects will resemble them. Below average. MEMO: Mr. Monroe is editor of the editorial page of The Virginian-Pilot.

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