718 WEST 5th ST. AUSTIN, TEXAS 78701 477.°615 Rita Clements Texas First Lady Priorities are well-defined BY JILL LEFFORGE Texas First Lady Rita Clements is a woman who knows what her priorities are. "Education, historical preservation and volunteerism," she said in an interview last Wednesday afternoon and she started off with education. "Too much is ex- pected of schools to- day," she said, "They're doing what churches and the home used to do." She recently served as an ex-officio member of a state-wide committee appointed by her husband, Gover- nor William Clements to study the problems of education in Texas and after consulting with ex- perts in the field, their report will be used as the basis of proposed legislation in the up- coming session of the legislature. They will be recom- mending a "back to basics" approach to the classroom, and to "social promotion of students, and the licen- sing of teachers, just like any other profes- sional in the state. The committee has a cur- riculum recommenda- tion. "There have been no deletions in Texas cur- riculum in 30 years because those deci- sions come out of the legislature. They 'need to be out of the legislature and be given to the board of educa- tion." Another of Mrs. Clements' priorities began to flourish when her husband was in Washington in the Defense Department. While there, she served on the Advisory Coun- cil of the State Depart- ment's Diplomatic Reception Room which has an extensive col- lection of 18th century American furniture. So when it came to re-modeling the Gover- nor's mansion, she was more than prepared. The state legislature allotted $1 million and a non-profit organization, Friends of the Gover- nor's Mansion has rais- ed almost another $2 million for the renova- tion and remodeling, which will be done in early 19th Century American furniture. "We've been out of the mansion over a year now and it will be midsummer before we're back in again." A lack of permanent living quarters hasn't dampened her en- thusiasm at all, es- pecially when it comes to her third priority. She is currently trying to convince professionals in the state mental health services to use more volunteers. "We have volun- teers. It's just finding worthwhile jobs for them. Volunteers wank a challenging ex-e perience and that, of course, involves train- ing. They can be train- ed to do more than just answer phones or file.' She is also working very closely with the National Women's Employment Education Project which trains unemployed women who are the head of household. "In this progrtam, it. costs about $700 to' train one woman while. it costs CETA about $5000 to train some-' one." Private industry has recently recruited women from the pilot project which started in San Antonio and no has pilots in Dallas and El Paso. Mrs. Clement says that "85 percent: of the women trained in this program are still at work after a year.-
