Gov. Rudy Perpich of Minnesota says attracting
million high-school and college students to tutor disadvantaged children will be his top goal next year as chairman of the Education Commission of the States.
The Governor outlined his agenda for the ecs during a meeting of the group’s steering committee in Arizona last month.
He will succeed Gov. John Ashcroft of Missouri as chairman of the Denver-based commission in 1988.
Mr. Perpich said the tutoring effort would be an expansion of the Campus Compact, an ecs program that promotes civic service by university students.
He suggested that volunteers be granted $1,000 exemptions on their educational loans.
The chairman-elect also said he would create a panel of about 30 top business executives to solicit more corporate consultation on school-reform issues.
Governor Perpich has touched on similar themes in outlining his 1988 education agenda for his home state.
Recently, he asked the state’s education commissioner and board of education to find ways to encourage districts to phase community service into their curricula over the next three years.
Mr. Perpich also said he would ask the legislature to make Minnesota the first state to permit dropouts over age 21 to return to school to get their diplomas.
In addition, he said he would request more funding for early-childhood education; extended school days for the children of working parents; child-care services in high schools; and regional inservice centers for teachers.
In Louisiana, meanwhile, teachers in Rapides Parish want to send Governor-elect Buddy Roemer a brick--not through the window, but to help him fulfill a campaign pledge.
While running for governor, Mr. Roemer said he wanted to brick up the state education department’s top three floors in order to cut administrative costs and channel more dollars into classrooms.
“Classroom teachers in Rapides Parish are ... most desirous of seeing money wisely allocated for our children’s instruction,” said the teachers in a recent letter to Mr. Roemer.
“We, therefore, wish to present you with the first brick--the cornerstone for your bricking up the top three floors of the education building.”
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