WASHINGTON

The President's Advisory Board on Race recently found that no national discussion on race in public schools is complete without conservatives invoking the controversial issue of education vouchers for poor children.

In a December 17, 1997, forum marked by constructive ideas and barbed comments about race from a White audience member, board members and other speakers engaged in mostly spirited discussions about how best to promote both diversity and high educational standards.

Thanks to former education secretary William Bennett, however, the forum also made clear that any discussion on education will face the thorny issue of vouchers to help poor children attend private institutions. Citing failures at inner-city schools in Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia, he said choice would reinvigorate education.

"The bad schools will be abandoned, and that is richly deserved," Bennett said, adding that failure to allow any child to choose between a public or private school, regardless of income, "is a terrible injustice. Let the people go."

But Bennett's comments drew strong challenges from others.

"We should fix public schools before we move on to private schools," said Dr. James Comer, professor of child psychiatry at Yale University, who blamed public school problems in part on low expectations among staff, most of whom also receive poor preparation.

"The problem is not with children or teachers but with a system of education that did not train teachers to function and solve problems in schools," he said.

Though not necessarily the central problem, race becomes a major issue in this debate, Comer noted.

"It is the training and preparation of teachers that is the major problem, and then race matters," said Comer. "Because of race, these teachers end up dealing with low-income, minority children."

Segregated minority schools, mostly in inner cities, also face the toughest challenges - such as lack of resources, high poverty and dropout rates, and safety concerns - said Gary Orfield, a scholar at Harvard University.