
DATE: Sunday, October 26, 1997              TAG: 9710260144

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: DECISION '97

SOURCE: BY LEDYARD KING, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  195 lines

IDEAS FOR EDUCATION SPENDING SET TWO CANDIDATES APART

If Donald S. Beyer Jr. becomes governor, the 90,000 or so children who started kindergarten in Virginia's public schools this year might have better teachers, greater access to technology and a leg up if they hail from low-income families.

Under James S. Gilmore III, those same young students might instead have more individualized instruction, greater opportunity to attend private schools and rewards based solely on their accomplishments.

Some of their promises might not get through the General Assembly, and, educators and parents say, any new money could be better spent on other needs to improve the system in other ways.

Whether it's Gilmore's plan to lower teacher-student ratios in every elementary school or Beyer's proposal to raise teacher pay, this generation of kindergartners faces considerably different futures as they wend their way through elementary, middle and high school.

In a race characterized as being sound-alike on so many fronts, public education emerges as the Great Divide between Democrat Beyer and Republican Gilmore.

And the debate isn't just teacher raises vs. more teachers. It's about differences on school choice, the emphasis on test scores and college scholarships.

Sylvia Armistead watched as an argument between two first-graders erupted into a fistfight during class at Churchland Primary School in Portsmouth.

When they finally were pulled apart, the incident left scared classmates, a frustrated teacher and that much less time in the school day to learn.

It's a scene far too frequent in public schools, said Armistead, a former PTA president who volunteers at the school. And it speaks to the deficiencies in both candidates' platforms, said this mother of four boys.

``Smaller class sizes are good, and everybody needs more money,'' she said.

But Armistead believes the problems run much deeper: A lack of parental involvement. Finding a place for disruptive children who still deserve a chance to learn. The struggle, even in the smallest classes, to instruct students who come to school hungry, upset or unprepared to learn because of troubles at home.

She's not sure what the answer is. But to her, neither candidate's proposal can be completely effective if they don't address these complex issues.

Each candidate believes his differing proposals can cure many of the ills vexing public schools.

Central to Beyer's platform is a $400 million plan to boost the average teacher salary by roughly $3,000 to reach the national average of approximately $38,000. Matched by local school boards, the money would be distributed in two ways: across the board to all school districts, and in additional raises available to those districts where recruitment is toughest.

For Beyer, the issue isn't just more teachers, it's better ones. And that means putting schools across the state on equal footing with schools across the nation who have been able to dangle fatter carrots to potential teachers.

``We're not just competing against Maryland,'' he said. ``We're competing against California.''

National education experts say the research linking higher-paid teachers to student achievement is scant. But they agree that better pay generally attracts more job candidates and that a bigger pool of candidates provides principals a better shot of landing good teachers.

But the strategies should be different when it comes to preventing the best teachers from taking higher-paying jobs in other school districts, said Alan Odden, co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Schools might want to offer bonuses for teachers who get the most training or, like Kentucky, offer schools that reach yearly goals a lump sum of money that the staff will divide, he said.

In addition, Beyer wants to boost instruction standards by establishing a professional board for teacher education, licensing and professional development. And he wants to start high school programs designed to encourage students to pursue teaching as a career.

``Not only do we have to proclaim our standards, which I think begin with academic standards. How much graduate education do they have? How well did they do in other graduate courses relevant to what they're teaching in our schools? But also make a commitment to money that brings them at least to the national average after seven years of falling further and further behind,'' said Beyer, who has been endorsed by the Virginia Education Association.

Beyer believes he can address Armistead's concerns about disruptive and unprepared students by expanding pre-school programs for children from low-income families.

That kind of intervention will make a difference in a lot of children's lives, said Rebecca S. Harvey, president of the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals.

``In an ideal world, all children would enter our schools ready to learn. They would come well-cared-for, well-nourished, well-clothed and from two-parent families,'' said Harvey, principal of Thoroughgood Elementary in Virginia Beach. ``In the real world, about 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. In the real world, early intervention and early childhood programs are more than ever a necessity due to fractured and dysfunctional families.''

Gilmore's proposal focuses on staffing needs, too, and, he believes, on helping poorer children compete with their peers.

He wants to spend about $200 million to hire 4,000 additional elementary school teachers - up to five for every school that comes up with matching funds.

``More specialized attention and lower class size. Parents are making their decisions (about schools) based on that,'' Gilmore said. ``The problem is they've got 30 kids (per class) in the first six grades very frequently, and that's too many.''

Beyer supports funding for an ongoing state program to reduce teacher-student ratios in kindergarten through third-grade classes. The program applies to schools with at least 16 percent of its children poor enough to qualify for federally subsidized meals. And research suggests that smaller class sizes provide the biggest benefit to disadvantaged children.

But Gilmore's simpler plan - treating all elementary schools equally - has connected with educators and middle-class parents on an issue that Democrats traditionally have staked as their own.

Recent research suggests that smaller class sizes, especially among minority and low-income groups, boosts achievement.

That has proven true in Tennessee, which embarked a decade ago on the nation's first major program to reduce class size significantly. Tennessee found that classes in kindergarten through third grade that had 15 students fared significantly better than those with 25 students, even if there was an aide in the classroom. Although scores went up across the board, the scores of minority students went up highest in small classes. Virginia's current program to reduce class size aims for a maximum of 15 students for the most impoverished schools.

Targeted reduction of class size could be effective, but the problem is finding teachers, said Kathy Christie with the Colorado-based Education Commission of the States.

Principal Marjorie Stealey of Norview High in Norfolk said qualified math and science teachers are especially scarce. So scarce, she said, that a long-term substitute who is not certified in math is teaching that very subject.

Think that's bad? More than a third of all of Virginia's math teachers did not major or minor in mathematics while in college, according to Beyer.

Perhaps no single issue illuminates the difference in the candidates' thinking on education better than do vouchers. Vouchers essentially are tax credits the government gives to parents who send their children to private school.

Supporters, like Gilmore, say vouchers would offer parents greater choice and would force public schools to improve in the face of such competition. Opponents, like Beyer, say they would bleed public education of its best students.

It lurks on the fringes of the education debate, but Beyer has seized on Gilmore's support of vouchers - and his acceptance of $100,000 since 1993 from Christian broadcaster M.G. Pat Robertson - as proof that the GOP nominee is a shill for the Christian right.

Despite Gilmore's denials, Beyer's bell-ringing on vouchers could help paint the Republican as extreme.

Gilmore, in turn, has soft-pedaled his support of vouchers, saying he backs the ``concept'' as long as it wouldn't injure public schools. But he has yet to define what he means by injury. My goal here is not to destroy public schools. My goal here is to enhance them and bring parents back to them.''

And there are differences on how they view the work by the state Board of Education.

Both Beyer and Gilmore support the board's academic standards as benchmarks that Virginia's students should strive to grasp: Students must pass stringent new tests in math, science, social studies and English to graduate.

But where Gilmore has endorsed many of the board's methods, Beyer opposes them.

The Democrat is critical of harsh penalties for those schools unable to reach the board's newly set bar: 70 percent of a school's students taking those new tests must pass, or the school faces loss of accreditation.

Beyer fears that the list of dis-accredited schools will resemble a map of poverty. National research and Virginia's own studies have shown that schools with a high percentage of impoverished children score low on standardized tests.

But true to his own bootstrap philosophy, Gilmore's proposal does not recognize income levels. His 4,000 teachers would be available to all schools, not just inner-city ones. And his plan to offer students up to $2,000 in college scholarships is based solely on how well they did in high school.

Beyer also fears that the emphasis on test scores and pure academics assumes everyone is headed to college. ``Again, we have scarce dollars to spend. I would rather spend it on vocational education, arts and music right now,'' said Beyer who has already said he would replace current School Board Chairwoman Michelle Easton if he's elected governor.

To that, Gilmore calls it an attempt to water down sour-tasting but badly needed medicine: ``We need to make sure we need to begin focusing on the quality of education, because I am absolutely convinced that that's what mothers and fathers care about.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo illustration by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The

Virginian-Pilot

(Hat courtesy of Stark and Legum)

Graphics

LOCAL SALARIES COMPARED

SOURCE: Virginia Department of Education

WHAT TEACHERS EARN IN VIRGINIA AND NATIONWIDE

ELECTION '97

[For complete graphics, please see microfilm] KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL RACE VIRGINIA

PLATFORMS EDUCATION CANDIDATES