Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990 TAG: 9004130924
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: PATRICIA LOPEZ BADEN EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I have serious concerns about this agreement," board member Maurice Mitchell said. "We're setting a precedent that can have a serious effect on our ability to control the educational program."
Board member Charlsie Pafford said the board had worked hard to cooperate with the county Board of Supervisors and she did not feel the takeover of the schools' finance department was warranted.
"I am getting more and more concerned that we are quietly accepting and accepting where the Board of Supervisors are concerned, while we continue to see the excellence of our school system in jeopardy," she said.
"I cannot vote for this agreement," she said, to widespread audience applause. "It is not in the best interests of the schools, the teachers or the children."
Board Chairman Frank Thomas and members Barbara Chewning and Paul Black all voted for the agreement, which gives the schools $500,000 to correct their deficit.
News of the deficit broke last week, when school officials said that despite a yearlong freeze on virtually all spending, they would be short $500,000 in June unless the county advanced them money from next year's funds.
School officials said they had overspent their budget by expanding a dropout prevention program at the old William Byrd Junior High School in Vinton.
County supervisors on Tuesday agreed to the advance, but said that in return, the county would take over most of the district's finance functions.
Beginning July 1, the county will help prepare and monitor the school budget, perform all accounting functions - including billing, purchasing, accounts payable and payroll. County finance also will administer the district's health insurance program.
County officials have estimated that combining the two departments will save $100,000, which the schools will use to provide 5.2 percent pay raises for administrators and other non-teaching personnel next year. Originally, only teachers were to receive a 5.2 percent raise, with everyone else getting 5 percent.
Board Chairman Thomas said just before the meeting that he saw no problem with the agreement and did not think the schools were losing control over their finances.
"I doubt that the average person will see any difference at all," he said. "[The county's] authority will be to tell us if we're going over budget.
Afterward, another controversy erupted when a half-dozen teachers, parents and students protested recent changes in the vocational program at Arnold R. Burton Technological Center.
All complained that budget cuts had forced students onto waiting lists for some vocational programs, while others were taking classes that combined first- and second-year vocational students.
"The students are becoming disinterested in the program because of the half-day combined classes," electronics teacher William Horne said.
"You cannot continue to increase overall enrollment at the school by combining classes," he said. "Students will drop out because they are not receiving marketable skills."
Auto body shop owner Jack Bennett told the board that combined classes went "over the heads of first-year students, and they bore the second-year students. You're doing everyone a disservice."
One parent pleaded with the board to restore the full program, saying, "I know what it's like to start on a job with no training. You're giving these kids a leg up. Don't take it away from them, please."
Board member Chewning, who also is a member of the vocational advisory board, said the School Board would give the program "a close look."
by CNB