By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 11, 1998; Page A01

RICHMOND, March 10—Virginia lawmakers today overwhelmingly passed bills to restore mandatory sex education and elementary guidance counselors in public schools, sending the measures to Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R), who is indicating that he will veto both plans.

Moderate Republicans joined with Democrats in both houses of the legislature today in rejecting the state Board of Education's repeal of mandates that local school systems offer both programs. The panel gave local districts the option of replacing the counselors with reading teachers.

Many lawmakers see the Board of Education -- dominated by appointees of former governor George Allen (R) -- as sympathetic to religious activists. Legislators vowed this session to heed the call of local educators and school boards across the state to restore the state requirements.

The bills now land on Gilmore's desk and will put the governor in one of the more delicate political situations of his young administration. Gilmore has vowed to be more moderate on school policies than Allen. But he has been eager to reassure religious and social conservatives in his party, who are demanding that he wield his veto pen for the first time.

The governor's office signaled today to those groups that Gilmore is likely to side with the most conservative elements in the GOP.

Gilmore spokesman Mark A. Miner declined to say so specifically, but he reinforced the governor's earlier opposition to any law that would reimpose state requirements on sex-ed -- known in Virginia as Family Life Education -- and elementary guidance counselors.

"It's been his philosophy to support the local option," Miner said. He cited the state board's policy, pushed during the past four years by Allen, to let local boards choose whether to have such programs.

"We definitely hope the governor will veto this bill and feel pretty optimistic that he will," said Robin DeJarnette, a spokeswoman for the Family Foundation, a Richmond-based antiabortion and family advocacy group, who said the legislature's passage of the bills represents her group's biggest setback this session.

DeJarnette's group believes that sex education is best left to parents and that guidance counselors in elementary schools can cause unwanted interference in parent-child relationships.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Alan A. Diamonstein, sponsor of the sex-ed bill, said a veto would be hard for Gilmore to explain, given the widespread support for both measures.

"The support for these bills has been overwhelming," said Diamonstein (Norfolk), citing statewide PTA, teachers, superintendents and school board groups that have expressed support for them. "There's no logical explanation for people who oppose it."

The Senate voted 26 to 13 to restore the sex education mandate and 30 to 9 for guidance counseling, while the House voted 69 to 28 on a combined bill. DeJarnette said she is confident that conservatives could muster the 14 Senate votes and 34 House votes needed to uphold a veto -- an assessment shared by some top Democrats.

House Democratic Leader C. Richard Cranwell (Roanoke), asked whether a veto would stick, said, "If the governor vetoes it, [Republican support for the measures] will wilt like daisies in the sun."

Gilmore could throw the matter back to the legislators with a veto before the session's scheduled adjournment Saturday. Measures vetoed after the session ends will be considered when the legislature reconvenes April 22.

Meanwhile, both houses held marathon sessions to clear a backlog of bills before the legislature's scheduled adjournment.

With giant differences remaining on Gilmore's centerpiece plan to cut the car tax and Democrats' school-building initiatives, lawmakers plowed through legislation while trying to iron out House-Senate differences in the state's two-year, $40 billion budget.

House members revived a bill to regulate poultry farm waste. The session's key environmental legislation now goes to the Senate, which killed a previous version.