THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9604300173
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
The Board of Supervisors on Monday passed a $3.6 million school operating budget for 1996-97, just under $400,000 less than the amount requested by the School Board.
The supervisors originally had proposed to cut local funds by about $700,000 but last-minute funding from the state cut that amount in half. Schools would receive about $330,000 from the state based on the number of students attending county schools, an increase over last year's enrollment. An additional $54,000 will come from other state funds.
The supervisors agreed to turn the state funds, which would be allocated directly to the county, back into the School Board budget, bringing the total local funding to $15,169,909.
Other state funds amount to $14,206,089. The local schools will get about $748,000 in federal funds and $812,900 from other sources.
School Superintendent Jane T. York said after the meeting that she wasn't disappointed that the supervisors didn't fully fund the operating budget.
``In a year when they have funded so much for us in construction, I don't think we can complain,'' York said.
The supervisors have recently agreed to fund planning for a new elementary school in Windsor. Two other new schools have opened in Carrollton and in Windsor over the last two years, and Carrsville Elementary School is due to open this fall.
York said she would recommend to the School Board when it meets to adopt the budget on Thursday that no cuts be made in the areas of salary increases or instructional programs.
Teachers currently are scheduled for about a 4.2 percent increase in salary; support personnel are scheduled to get slightly over 4 percent unless they are at the top of their level. Those employees would get about 1.5 percent.
``We are trying to raise people who now are in the bottom level,'' York said. ``As far as cuts, we might hold off on things like, for example, working with the athletic fields at Smithfield High School and maybe hold off on two school buses.''
The operating budget includes 10 new teachers, nine for an anticipated increase in enrollment next fall and another to continue an increased emphasis on technology education. It also includes three new pre-school classes, possibly a fourth class which York said might be eliminated.
The School Board meets at 3 p.m. on Thursday to act on the budget. by CNB