Good evening. My name is Arthur Purves. I address you on behalf of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance. The Alliance recommends four qualifications for a new school superintendent.

First, the new superintendent should have a plan to raise academic achievement without raising taxes. This would contrast with the current school administration, which has raised taxes without raising academic achievement. Over the last twenty years, while inflation increased 200%, Fairfax County per-capita taxes increased 380% and per-student spending increased 450%. Over the same period, standardized test scores have remained at the 71st percentile. SAT scores did increase, from the 57th to 65th percentile. This increase may, however, have arisen not from higher standards, but from more students taking SAT prep courses. The Fairfax County average on College Board achievement tests (SAT IIs) is at the 50th percentile. This is a poor showing for a county which is among the top in the nation in terms of adults with college degrees and median household income.

Second, the new superintendent should believe that all students can learn. Again this contrasts with the current administration, which claims that the reason achievement did not increase with spending is because there are more minority students. Let's stop blaming low achievement on students and parents. The blame belongs with the administration and its flawed educational philosophy. Anyone who believes that children cannot learn should disqualify themselves from the superintendency.

Third, the new superintendent should believe that the purpose of schools is not to socialize children, but to educate them. This too contrasts with the view of the current administration. In her school's May, 1994, PTA newsletter, the newly appointed principal of Oakton High School wrote, "The institution known as 'school' is no longer the place where American youth become educated but rather the place where American youth become socialized. Education is just one facet of socialization." To socialize students, the current administration's Professional/Technical Studies program refocuses schools on five vague and unmeasurable "competencies" e.g., "Understanding Self and Others", "Exploring Occupations", "Making Decisions", "Acquiring Work Skills", and "Planning for Life". This is Outcome-Based Education.

Fourth, the new superintendent should support traditional teaching and oppose "discovery learning." Almost no one is aware that schools are a battleground between these two conflicting philosophies of education. Traditionally teachers taught rules, facts, and skills that students learned through homework, memorization, and testing. School administrations nationwide have quietly supplanted traditional instruction with "discovery learning". Discovery learning holds that rules, facts, skills, homework, and memorization are lower-level skills and that schools should instead just teach children how to think and let the children discover the rules and teach themselves. Accordingly, the current administration has removed phonics from reading, drill from arithmetic, proofs from geometry, derivations from trigonometry, spelling and grammar from English, algebra from physics, and research papers from history. No wonder test scores are low.

The Alliance cannot understand why the business community regards the current administration so highly. It will be difficult to find a superintendent that meets these qualifications, given that the philosophy of the current administration is the philosophy held by school administrators nationwide.

Finally, the Alliance requests that the Superintendent Selection Committee publish a report telling the community where it believes the new superintendent should stand on these and other issues. Thank you.