Fox May Not Reject `Goals’ Despite Campaign Pledge, She Still Hasn’t Turned Down Money

State Schools Superintendent Anne Fox may be retreating from her pledge to reject federal school-reform money.

During her 1994 campaign, Fox repeatedly denounced Goals 2000, a federal program that encourages states to improve public education.

But one of Fox’s staunchest allies warns Fox is waffling. Kathy Thomsen, an opponent of federal programs, said Fox promised her at a state Education Department meeting last week that she would send Goals 2000 funds back to Washington, D.C.

Goals 2000 would funnel more than $400,000 into Idaho school reform this year.

Next year’s allocation could top $1.6 million.

The superintendent gave Thomsen a copy of a Jan. 24 memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Elaine Eberharter-Maki that said Fox can unilaterally withdraw Idaho from Goals 2000 and return the money.

But when Fox failed to go public with the memorandum, “I called her up (on a radio call-in program) and asked her if she’s returning the first year funds and she said `I’m waiting for a decision from my attorney,”’ Thomsen said Wednesday.

“Well I know she’s already got it,” Thomsen added.

During the campaign, Fox cautioned federal strings could be attached to the money. Taxpayers, she said, “feel that signing the Goals 2000 is the beginning of major government control in the field of education.”

But her criticism softened after her Nov. 8 election.

Asked Monday if she has heard from her attorney, Fox said: “I don’t have a report on that.” Later, she said a decision is just one week away.

Fox’s spokesman Pat Reilly on Friday conceded Fox has received a green light to turn down the funds. But 23 days after Eberharter-Maki’s memo, Fox is now looking for a second opinion.

Fox hopes to have a second memorandum prepared by a separate attorney and to draft a Goals 2000 “fact sheet” for the state Board of Education before she makes any decision, he said.

Fox will make her move after the board’s March meeting, Reilly said. That is bad news for Goals 2000 opponents. Eberharter-Maki’s memo said Fox appears to be the board’s agent on Goals 2000, but the board could “withdraw its designation of that authority.”

Thomsen and legislators, such as House Education Chairman Ron Black, R-Twin Falls, and Senate Education Committee member Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, say they have no idea what she will do.

Schroeder, a Goals 2000 supporter, said Fox may wait until the Legislature is out of town and then quietly cancel the federal programs. The second-term senator has introduced legislation that would force her to accept Goals 2000 money.

“I think we can use it,” Schroeder said.

Thomsen and federal reform critic Gerri McIntyre, meanwhile, are rallying anti-Goals 2000 forces.

They are urging their readers to call state education ombudsman Jack Kaufman, saying: “It is time for parents to voice their concerns on Goals 2000.”

If Idaho gets the federal money, $224,229 would be used as grants to school districts that want to develop local improvement plans. Another $75,000 would help develop plans for using technology in schools. A committee overseeing Idaho’s 1992 reform plan would receive $131,539. The final $17,946 is designed for administration.