
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990                   TAG: 9003071814
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOL BUDGET OK'D; MORE MONEY SOUGHT

The Roanoke School Board adopted a 1990-91 budget Tuesday night that gives teachers a 5.1 percent pay raise and calls on City Council to find another $2.1 million in additional funding for even higher salary increases and other school programs.

The board had promised teachers a 10 percent raise for next year, to compensate for not giving them more than the 4.5 percent increase they received last year. But that promise had to be broken after school officials learned that funding projections were far less than had been expected.

Revenue estimates from the state and city give Roanoke schools a funding increase of $3.6 million over last year, which is some $2.1 million less than needed, according to Superintendent Frank Tota.

Tota said the additional funding is required to meet the 10 percent pay raise promise and to fund full-day kindergarten, added remedial reading positions, extension of the school day to seven periods and other programs designed to bring city schools into parity with Roanoke County schools.

Additional money also is needed to maintain several schools that are too small to operate efficiently, but have been kept open at City Council's request.

Tota said that in a sense the board really adopted two budgets Tuesday - a "balanced" budget based on the $3.6 million revenue increase and a "fully funded" budget that includes the additional $2.1 million.

If the balanced budget totaling nearly $62.1 million is approved by council without the added money, then teachers will receive a 5.1 percent scale raise, together with a 1.5 percent tier raise. Only about 22 percent of city teachers, however, are eligible for the tier raise.

Also, administrators and non-teaching personnel, such as aides and clerks, would receive a 3 percent scale raise and a 5 percent step raise under the adopted budget. An estimated 80 percent are eligible for the step raise.

However, if the fully funded budget is approved, then the board plans to meet the 10 percent pay raise promise and spend the leftover $1.1 million on the programs it says are needed to bring the city above minimum standards.

Repeating what he has stressed in recent weeks, Tota said again that the call for additional funding should not be perceived as a request; it should be perceived as a requirement.

"Should a city with our school needs and our financial resources only be meeting minimal requirements?" Tota asked at Tuesday's board meeting at Preston Park Elementary School. "I think not."

City officials, however, have said they would have to raise taxes to provide the increase wanted by the schools.

But council is facing pressure to cut real estate tax rates this year to help offset recent increases in assessments. In addition, three council seats are up for election in May, making a tax increase appear even less likely.

by CNB