Warner,
Pundits Discuss Education
If
the ink spilled by pundits is any indication, education
will be the top issue for the 2005 General Assembly.
Gov.
Mark R. Warner used Virginia’s
traditional back-to-school week to frame his
op-ed appearance in the Richmond
Times-Dispatch. He provided a report card of improved performance
and touted several of his initiatives, including the
Partnership for Achieving Successful Schools (PASS),
Project Graduation, and the Senior Year Plus program. The Governor mentioned bipartisan support for
education twice, an obvious message to the General
Assembly.
In
the Daily Progress,
Bob
Gibson examined an issue sure to be debated in 2005:
charter status for the University of Virginia, Virginia
Tech, and William and Mary. Gibson quoted Virginia Tech President Charles
Steger saying that a chartered Tech would enroll more
students, hire more faculty, and pay faculty better, all
for a tuition increase of seven percent annually for five years. Other university presidents, including Old
Dominion’s Roseann Runte, worry that would-be charter
status for these three schools might “widen financial
gaps between the state’s colleges.” There are also worries that the three charter
universities would price low and middle income students
out of the market, although the presidents promise
strong financial aid programs.
A
proposed “University of the
Blue Ridge” for the
Martinsville-Henry
County
area
would transform that region, according to Mel
Cartwright, a retired textile worker writing in the Roanoke Times. Cartwright
sketches an idyllic blueprint for bringing the new
school into being, including using existing facilities.
“Our proximity to the mountains and wonderful Blue
Ridge Parkway
makes our area ideal for study of all that is natural,
as well as preservation of the mountain heritage, music
and art.”
On
a less optimistic note, Melanie
Scarborough of the Washington
Post notes a program initiated by
Sen.
Benjamin Lambert, D-Richmond. In response to the low number of African-American
men enrolled in U.S. medical schools, Lambert set up an
exchange program between Virginia’s
five historically black universities and the University
of Nebraska Medical Center. Nebraska
will
tutor students interested in medicine in math and
science. Scarborough
reacts viscerally:
As
commendable as the program might be, its necessity is
shameful. Why should Virginia's minority students
need remedial education?
Will
the day ever come that politicians are sufficiently
outraged by the handicapping of black students that they
will be willing to incur the political disfavor of the
education lobby?
One
can only hope that the progress Gov. Warner cited is
addressing the gaps in achievement.
Transportation—Issue
Two?
Competing
with education for primary attention of the 2005 General
Assembly will be transportation.
Secretary of Transportation Whitt Clement has
performed a useful service by providing a string of
updates on transportation issues as a Richmond Times-Dispatch 2004 commentary columnist. His latest
piece described VDOT’s impressive cost-saving measures
and progress in doing more with less. While Clement does not believe that improved
efficiencies are a complete answer to solving the
Commonwealth’s transportation woes, appropriating more
money to an agency committed to managing those funds
effectively is a refreshing proposition.
Economic
Developer Speaks
Local
economic developers seldom draw much attention except
when announcing new projects. Brian
Gottstein of the Roanoke
Times interviewed outgoing Roanoke
economic development official Beth Neu and let her speak
freely on the issues faced by local economic developers. One of her more interesting observations
concerned regulation:
Our
department conducted many focus groups with small
business owners, and we asked them what the city could
do to make expansion here more attractive. The number
one response was to reduce the regulatory burden to make
it easier to do business in the city – basically to
get government out of the way of business.
Tilting
at Windmills
Tiny
Highland
County
is
the center of a huge controversy challenging the belief
systems of economic developers, environmentalists, and
tourism-boosters. A
wind-generation farm is being proposed for the scenic
area, but has encountered opposition. Writing in the Richmond
Times-Dispatch, Randall
Swisher, American Wind Energy Association Director,
extolled the virtues of wind farm projects by pointing
to the benefits they have brought to other communities.
A
Delegate’s Report Card
Roanoke
Times
pundit Reginald
Shareef offered a retrospective on the first term of
Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke. Ware, an African-American, won the seat formerly
held by the popular Democratic Del. Chip Woodrum. Surprisingly, given the charged partisan
atmosphere existing in the General Assembly, Shareef
notes, “He crosses party lines with regularity to take
care of business but remains one of the Governor’s
strongest supporters.”
Kerry
Commonwealth
President
Bush’s recent surge in the polls has seemingly taken Virginia
out
of the “in-play” column, but it was only days ago
that Democrats still had high hopes. Jeff
Schapiro of the Richmond
Times-Dispatch inspired Democrats by quoting Virginia
delegates to the Republican convention from Fairfax
County
as
being “worried” about Kerry’s strength there. In the liberal Washington
Monthly, editor Benjamin
Wallace-Wells recounted his travels through Virginia
to
make the case that Virginia
might vote Democratic in a presidential campaign for the
first time in 1964. Who would be responsible for leading
Kerry to victory? The
title of Wallace-Wells’ piece says it all: “Rebels in Izods.”
No
More Good Ol’ Boy
The
Mark Warner of 2001 won the gubernatorial race by
embracing “common man”
Virginia
pursuits: banjo music and NASCAR. According to Daily
Press reporters , Gov. Warner slipped
out of “good ol’ boy” mode when inviting
supporters of Congressman Bobby Scott, D-Newport News,
to a fund-raiser at his home in Northern Virginia:
"You
can see the governor's really fancy house, ... not the
one in Richmond,"
Warner said.
At least Warner recognized his mistake:
"I guess it's too late to say that's off the
record."
--
September 20, 2004
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