Goldman, Allen, call for public-private approach to school renovations

By: | Times-Dispatch
Published: October 13, 2009

An outspoken Democrat and former Republican governor of Virginia are advocating a public-private approach to paying for costly school renovations and say they already have financial commitments for what would be Virginia's largest local school modernization program.

Paul Goldman, a former chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, and George Allen, a Republican who served as governor from 1994 to 1998, promote in an op-ed article in today's New York Times the creation of a School Modernization and Revitalization Credit they dub a "Smart Credit."

Allen and Goldman are calling on President Barack Obama and Congress to change a federal historic rehabilitation tax credit to spur school renovations. Goldman and Allen said that with the change, buildings could be sold to private investors, modernized and leased back to school systems. That credit is currently available only to investors who want to renovate a building for a different use.

"We have talked to business investors," Allen and Goldman wrote. "If Congress will amend the law, we already have the money pledged to modernize more schools, at one time, than has ever been done in any locality in Virginia's history."

A similar tack was taken in the renovation of the Maggie Walker High School Building in Richmond to make it the home of the Governor's School for International Studies. The tax credit was allowed in that instance because the building was renovated from a local school into a regional facility, Allen and Goldman said.

"Critics may scream that our approach 'sells our schools' to the private sector," Allen and Goldman said in their op-ed. "But what national interest is served by denying local officials access to private capital to provide schoolchildren the opportunities they deserve?"

Allen and Goldman also said changing the law to allow the tax credit could create "hundreds of thousands" of jobs and provide a needed boost to the economy.

Goldman and Allen are scheduled to discuss their proposal at a news conference set for this afternoon at the State Capitol.

They said their proposal would eliminate the "corridors of shame" Obama recently referenced in a speech to the national NAACP in which he said, "the dream of a world-class education is still being deferred across the country."

Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor, issued a statement this morning saying he supported the Goldman-Allen initiative.