Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992 TAG: 9202270260
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
SCHOOLS BUDGET IRKS BOARD
The Board of Supervisors, faced with a school budget it doesn't feel it can afford, quizzed the Montgomery County School Board on Wednesday night about the high price tag.During a special meeting on next year's county budget, supervisors asked about the need for new items in the proposed school spending plan such as computers for every classroom, large employee raises and two dozen new teachers.
The audience in the board room at the courthouse was packed with school employees and parents interested in the fate of the proposed budget.
After it was over, School Board Chairman Bob Goncz characterized the session with the supervisors as "positive" and leading in some ways to a better understanding between the two boards.
The School Board - seeking to set out what it feels are the needs of the school system - has sent the supervisors a $52.3 million spending proposal for next year, a 33 percent increase over this year's budget.
The big increase, which would require an additional $12.2 million in local funding, has alarmed supervisors, who feel the School Board should have taken the weak economy into account when writing the budget.
"What bothered me is you did it knowing good and well that we're not going to raise taxes 70 percent this year," Supervisor Larry Linkous told the School Board.
"I think to call it a budget is a misnomer," Supervisor Henry Jablonski said. "Basically, what you have . . . is a wish list."
Some neighboring governments put restrictions on their school boards before their school budgets are written, Jablonski said. He suggested that giving the School Board some percentage increase to work with before it starts on its budget might be a good idea in the future.
Supervisor Joe Gorman told the School Board he would like to see it put a priority on some of the new things it is asking for; but Supervisor Jim Moore responded, "What the School Board is waiting for from us is a dollar sign; I don't think it's fair to ask for priorities."
Under Virginia law, school boards are charged with deciding the educational needs of school systems and local governments with determining how many of those needs they can afford to fund.
The School Board's proposed budget would require a 66-cent increase in the county's 70-cent tax rate. That would mean the owner of a $50,000 house who now pays $350 a year in taxes would have to pay an additional $330.
School Board member Daniel Schneck told the supervisors that the school budget was based on more participation of school employees and the public than in the past. "The citizens of this county have come to us and said, `Give us the best school system,' " he said.
But Supervisor Joe Stewart answered that 90 percent of the people who pay taxes in the county don't come to School Board budget hearings because they don't feel they will be listened to. Most of the people who speak at the hearings are school employees, he said.
Supervisors asked school officials about accounting items in the budget that they didn't understand and seemed satisfied by the answers to many of their questions. But answers in response to questions about the need for some new programs, such as elementary string-music classes and foreign language classes, didn't appear to impress the supervisors.
The supervisors also bore down on a $3.04 million plan to equip each of the county's 700 classrooms with computers. The plan would provide computers to students outside of regular computer labs and would make them available to teachers for grading and attendance records.
Jablonski questioned how well-thought out the plan was and suggested it might be better to phase in the computers rather than buy them all at once.
The budget contains sizable raises for school employees, including 17 percent increases for administrators and 15 percent raises for teachers.
A 4.5 percent raise has been proposed for employees outside the school system, and indications have been that might be more of what school employees can expect. Jablonski asked for information on how the pay of surrounding school systems compares to Montgomery's.
Schneck told supervisors that the School Board is not trying to set a precedent with the raises and called them "a one-shot deal." The raises are designed to get employees on new salary scales, and teachers' raises in following years would be 2.3 percent by formula, he said.
The supervisors made no decisions Wednesday night. The board is conducting a series of special meetings this week and next in an effort to get the county budget ready for publication and public hearing next month.