WEBSTER URGES EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY

Missouri Attorney General William Webster said Monday he is optimistic that in light of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, there will soon be a recognition by federal courts that Missouri has fulfilled its obligation for desegregation efforts in St. Louis and Kansas City.

Webster said court rulings have provided "a strong signal from the Supreme Court that these cases have an end.

"We are optimistic that the courts are going to rule soon that the state has fulfilled its obligation."

Webster, who is a Republican candidate for governor, discussed the desegregation cases as part of a release of his position paper entitled: "Education: Innovation and Accountability."

In a recent 8-0 ruling on an Atlanta case, justices ruled that obligations for integrating schools had been met.

Webster pointed out that the basis of the decision in the Atlanta case is similar to an argument Missouri presented to the court last fall.

The state of Missouri spends about $400 million a year as its share of desegregation costs in the two metropolitan areas. Webster said a ruling in the St. Louis case comparable to the one in Atlanta would give the state more than $450 million over the next decade, including $70 million next year.

Webster said the Kansas City situation is more clouded than the St. Louis case, but he's also optimistic the high court is moving in a direction that will bring an end to the state's role there.

The attorney general said residents of the Kansas City school district are not paying their share of the desegregation costs and noted that he had urged a federal judge to order the Kansas City school board to come up with its share.

Webster said he supports a resolution passed by the Missouri House last week that would send voters a constitutional amendment to enable the state to order the school board to come up with a taxing method for contributing its share.

In outlining his position paper on education, which focused almost entirely on elementary and secondary education, Webster pointed out that school funding has been hampered the last few years by the flat general revenue income coming into the state and the increased costs to the state for paying desegregation.

Once the desegregation costs end, Webster said he believes all savings should be used for education. He also called for earmarking all lottery revenues to education.

Webster added that the defeat in November of Proposition B is a clear indication from voters that they expect educators to make reforms without increasing taxes.

"In rejecting Proposition B, the voters sent a clear message to state government: Do more with the tax money you have before asking for additional dollars.

"We must raise academic standards and expectations," said Webster. "We must also insist on bottom-line accountability from schools, while at the same time cutting the education bureaucracy."

Webster said he supports using the state's bonding authority to pay for capital improvement obligations it has from the desegregation cases to spread out the costs and reduce the immediate impact on the budget. Such an action would put $175 million back into the state treasury this year, he observed.

"We think it's just common sense to spread this capital expense over 20 years rather than two and a half years," said Webster.

The candidate also said he does not support a constitutional amending requiring that one-third of all state revenues be devoted to elementary and secondary education. "I think you make mistakes in locking in a certain figure, because needs can change."

But he quickly pointed out, "I support full funding for education, whatever that might be."

Webster added that using the current budget level for education and adding lottery revenues and desegregation money to it, the amount spent on education would be 34 percent of the budget.

Webster said funding for education could be increased significantly by an ongoing review of where state funds are spent through such programs as zero-base budgeting and attaching sunset clauses to programs to insure they are evaluated from time to time.

"The bottom line is that substantially increased funding will not be possible without significant reform of Missouri's education system," he said.

"We believe that these reforms should emphasize accountability from schools, innovation from teachers, responsibility from students and financial accountability from state elected officials."

Among the components of Webster's education plan are: implementing a school report card system; allowing for school choice; full funding of the Parents as Teachers program; reducing class sizes, particularly in grades K-4; providing alternative certification for teachers; and increasing partnerships between schools and businesses.

Webster is also calling for establishing a core curriculum that must be completed by high school students before admission to public four-year colleges and universities. For students who do not want to attend college, Webster is advocating an increased emphasis on vocational education.

He also supports developing programs to give individual schools the leeway to mold programs to fit their particular student bodies and incentive grants for local education innovation.