ISSUES: High School Education: Build on the Basics While Redesigning for the Future

Our schools, especially our high schools, are ill equipped to teach our children what they need to know to compete and succeed in the 21^st century. Part of this failure, though certainly not all, is linked to under funding; Virginia ranks 11^th in personal income but is 43^rd among states in per pupil spending, and 21^st among states in average teacher salary. State funding provided to localities to meet the "Standards of Quality" (SOQs) is inadequate, and school divisions like Albemarle and Charlottesville expend considerable local tax dollars to make up the shortfall. This places great pressure on the real estate property tax rate, and makes it increasingly difficult for localities to lower this rate, even in the face of rapid increases in assessments.

Beyond the funding problem, however, we need to look at education, especially in the high schools, in fundamentally different ways. Our high schools were designed to meet the needs of another age, when a high school diploma was often the end of formal education. In an increasingly complex society, our children's success often rests on their ability to obtain more specialized and technical training, either in high school itself, at a trade school, at a community college, or at a university. We often look at high school education as an end in itself rather than part of a system of education which includes different options.

Today, only one-third of our students graduate from high school ready for college or a career job. Almost 30% of high school freshmen nationally fail to graduate. These numbers are unacceptable and doom many to lives of severe economic challenge. If the trend continues, it will greatly diminish this nation=s economic wealth and power.

Recently, a National Governors' Association Summit on Education concluded with a call that states act to improve high school education. I support several initiatives to do this, including:

• • Providing college and accelerated career/technical options within high schools so that junior and senior years are part of a transition to further education and decent work.
• • Providing early financial aid commitments to youngsters, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, who make early choices to take AP and college-preparatory courses.
• • Raising teacher salaries to the national average.
• • Providing special funding for literacy and math recovery programs beginning in 9^th grade; 32% of the nation's eighth graders have below average math skills; 26% are below reading average.rage math skills; 26% are below reading average.

We need to ensure that our technical education efforts are adequately funded and are designed to train youngsters for jobs in the knowledge-based economy that can pay a decent wage. And we need to provide the resources to our community colleges so that citizens who seek new opportunities can find a place where they can train for them. We have a good model here in this area, where PVCC has worked with local governments and the university to train individuals for specifically targeted jobs being created in the private sector. This is an arrangement where everyone wins; citizens find decent jobs employed in the private sector while local businesses expand and pay taxes.

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