CARNAHAN OUTLINES PLAN FOR EDUCATION: TEACHERS PRAISE GOVERNOR'S PROGRAMS

Gov. Mel Carnahan, locked in a tight U.S. Senate race against incumbent John Ashcroft, used a town hall meeting in Cape Girardeau to detail his plan to deliver $50 billion in federal funding to public schools.

About 100 supporters came to Barbara Blanchard Elementary School Monday night to hear Carnahan discuss his positions on education and tell him what Missourians want for their school-aged children.

Throughout the hour-long meeting, Carnahan referred to initiatives passed during his terms as governor, including the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993, which rewrote the state school funding formula. He also led the effort for Show Me Standards, a series of 73 knowledge and performance measures drafted by committees of educators and others in 1993. Committee members identified what students should know before graduation.

Teachers, who made up most of the audience, gushed over Carnahan's leadership.

"This is the best friend education ever had," said Missouri Teacher of the Year Nancy Petersen of Poplar Bluff, who introduced Carnahan at the meeting. "He has been a strong advocate for education as governor and will continue to be a strong advocate as our next United States senator."

Carnahan, a Democrat, detailed his Quality Classrooms Initiatives plan, which would provide $50 billion in new federal funding over 10 years to provide spending flexibility for school districts. Under the plan, the money would flow directly from the federal government to local school districts to be spent on class size reduction, building improvements and other initiatives. Districts would have to account for how they spent the additional funding.

"I'm not interested in a national curriculum," Carnahan said. "I think you can use local school districts, give them local control and let them do what they say they're going to do without big government, big bureaucracy intervening."

Answering audience questions, Carnahan said he opposes vouchers because they take money from public schools, supports charter schools only in districts where regular public schools are failing and wants to spend more to help vocational school students but provide tax credits for four-year college educations.

Scott Howes of Cape Girardeau said he would like to see additional federal and state funding set aside for vocational training. Howes, a heavy machinery operator, said additional funding is necessary at every level, but more emphasis should be put on vocational training because "not everybody's cut out to go to college."

Howes said Carnahan is a strong advocate for educational issues because the governor's parents were educators and because he keeps the average Missourian in mind when taking action. Howes said Ashcroft, a Republican, has not had a history of representing lower- and middle-class Missourians, which is why the Senate race is too close to call just weeks before the election.

Ross McFerron of Advance, Mo., a freshman attending Southeast Missouri State University, was among a small group of students protesting the meeting outside the school. McFerron said Carnahan should not represent Missouri on the federal level because he has failed voters in a number of ways as governor.

"By raising taxes, the veto on partial birth abortions -- these are the different issues that we feel Carnahan has failed on," he said. "One-third of the money going to education never makes it to the local level. We would like to see more money returned to the local level, and Sen. Ashcroft has a good record of trying to get money returned to the classroom."

Voters will decide the race during general elections Nov. 7..