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Goals 2000
The debate about Goals 2000 is much ado about practically nothing. .
During the Bush administration the state governors met in Charlottesville and developed a series of goals for American education to be achieved by the year 2000. The goals probably were unachievable. They included guaranteeing that every child enters school ready to learn, that 90 percent of America’s students graduate from high school, that adult illiteracy be eliminated, that American students be at the top of international tests on math and '' scierice and that schools be free from violence and drugs.
During the Clinton administration modest funds have been provided in most states to develop plans to implement these goals. In Virginia Gov. George Allen refused to participate claiming the funds had unacceptable strings attached.
More recently the governors met again with business leaders and adopted one more achievable goal, that academic standards be raised.
Virginia has already started down that path with new standards of learning approved in language arts, social studies, math and science. During the recent session of the General Assembly the governor asked for funds to develop tests for six grade levels to find out how well Virginia’s students were doing in achieving these higher standards.
The assembly balked at the cost of developing these tests, scaling back the number of grades to be tested and suggested the governor apply for Goals 2000 funding to cover part of the cost of developing the tests. They adopted a provision that the governor must apply for the funds if two-thirds of the school boards in the state request that the state apply.
Gov. Allen has vetoed this provision. Wednesday’s one-day session will determine if the veto is sustained or overridden Last Tuesday the county School Board, reluctant to thrust aside any source of funding, passed a resolution urging the state to apply for the funds.
According to Monday’s Washington Post, as Congress comes back from its two-week Easter recess, it is expected to pass a budget for those portions of the government, including the Department of Education, which do not yet have approved budgets half way through the budget year. Included in the proposed budget at this time is $350 million for Goals 2000, a reduction from the $371 million in last year’s budget.
If those funds survive the budget process, and if Virginia applies for some of the funds, the county can apply for a few thousand dollars. The application will have to say what the funds will be used for, and Dr. Gangel told the School Board last week the board can decide at that time if the strings attached are more of a burden than the school system wants to take on.
It seems unlikely they will be as bothersome as the strings already attached to federal aid. The most burdensome federal regulations the school system has to deal with are those related to providing special education for all students who qualify.
It seems odd that those who oppose using the “iffy” federal Goals 2000 funds to develop the tests of the new standards prefer to ■have the state relying on the even more “iffy”-revenues from fowerball. "
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Tempest in a teapot...
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