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Editorial
Standards of Quality
The news from Richmond this week is that the Baliles and Robb administrations’ much-balleyhooed Standards of Quality (SOQ) for school systems in the Commonwealth may fall by the wayside as local school districts scramble for funds to keep even the lights turned on.
We support the effort by Del. Alan Diamonstein of Newport News, who is going to introduce a bill that will allow school systems to seek a waiver of SOQ mandates.
SOQ mandates include restrictions on classroom size and numbers of counselors per pupil, among other standards aimed at increasing school quality. The standards, however, also severely limit the flexibility of local school districts in tailoring programs to meet specific needs. All too often, unfortunately, the concepts crafted in Richmond don’t fit the needs of individual school districts, especially small, rural districts like Rappahannock.
The bill would allow a one-year waiver of specific state mandates with the approval of the Board of Education. School systems would also have to show aTinancial need to be granted a waiver, according to Del. Diainonstein.
Del. Diamonstein also said that the bill would only be in effect for one year and would haVe to be re-approved by the General Assembly for each year that it was to be used. Del. Diamonstein added that the bill would be used mostly by rural school systems but some applications could be found for urban schools hard hit by budget cuts. ,
Such a measure could be a real “windfall” to Rappahannock County, where the school system is facing a loss of more than $200,000 in state aid. Local officials have argued vociferously, but so far in vain, that their efforts to adjust to the state’s reduction in aid are hampered by the Richmond’sprogram requirements. With so much of the . budget out-of-bounds for cuts, local options are severely limited.
Considering that budget-cut proposals made by Gov. L. Douglas Wilder include a $200 million reduction in state SOQ payments, the state shouldn’t force counties to uphold obligations that it’s reneging on itself.
The SOQs were an important cornerstone of educational reform in the 1980s, but we agree with Del. Diamonstein that the realities of 1991 make for some hard and cold financial decisions to be made, and allowing the waiver of SOQs will permit localities'the flexibility that will be needed.
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