Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 12, 1991 TAG: 9102120307
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
What stands out are requests for more local dollars - to nobody's surprise. They also anticipate impacts from the state's new early retirement plan for employees at least 50 years old with 25 years of experience, assuming the General Assembly approves it, and having to put off most expenses other than the biggest one - teacher salaries.
The Radford School Board submitted its school budget request to City Council in mid-January, which was before the state announced the most recent funding cuts.
The budget seeks teacher raises of about 3.5 percent and "some very basic maintenance," Superintendent Michael Wright said, which would take $133,378 more than this year's budget.
But the state's share is projected to drop by $272,135, which could still change. Federal funds will stay about the same, and money from all other sources will be about $8,000 less. "What this is saying is that, in order to increase our total budget a total of $133,000 . . . the city's going to have to come up with $407,373," Wright said.
Montgomery County Superintendent Harold Dodge submitted his board's 1991-92 budget Thursday to the Board of Supervisors. The two boards are to meet on it tonight.
The budget anticipates an overall loss of $1.2 million and deals with that by freezing salaries, cutting eight administrative positions and a dozen bus-driver jobs, and by reducing the number of teaching positions by six or seven, which is expected to be handled through attrition.
Even with all that, Montgomery's schools still would need $198,000 more in county money next year.
Actually, the increase would be $503,217, County Administrator Betty Thomas said, when counting the start of payments on the new Christiansburg elementary school in the coming fiscal year. All this depends on state funding staying as it is at this point.
"If there is a second round [of state cuts], it will have to involve the elimination of programs and people," Dodge said. "The next pass-through will be devastating. It'll be programs, and programs mean people."
Since he and Wright submit their school budgets before most superintendents do, Dodge said, others are watching to see how they handle state money losses.
"Mike and I will both be the first ones to cry the blues," Dodge said. "We even explored furloughs here," he said, months before the idea for required furloughs came from Gov. Douglas Wilder for other state workers.
Dodge said it was found to be impractical: "You end up paying people overtime for the people you put on furlough."
Other New River Valley localities still have some time on their school budgets and are taking advantage of it. "We're taking our time on it," said Pulaski County Superintendent William Asbury. The School Board has had two budget sessions in which it mainly got information on costs of various programs and staff.
"We're not trying to value or judge at this point," Asbury said, although that process will start within two weeks. He anticipated that a first budget draft would be ready March 1.
The idea was "let's sort of build it as the General Assembly is doing its work," he said, which is a luxury Dodge and Wright do not have.
"I feel sorry for them, because we've developed a pretty good time line," Asbury said, in working with the Board of Supervisors in Pulaski.
Asbury's best guess now is that the reductions would be across-the-board, rather than in any one area. Some personnel would almost certainly be affected, with the massive reductions involved. "We just don't know to what degree or where," Asbury said. Textbook costs and other fees could go up.
"The early retirement is going to have a significant impact, in my opinion, on everybody's budget," Asbury said. If all eligible teachers in Pulaski County took it, he said, there would be more options to meet budget cuts but a lot of teacher experience would be lost.
The Radford School Board is studying Wilder's early-retirement recommendation further before taking a position on it.
Giles County prepared for state cuts early, starting budget sessions back in August and starting to set priorities in early November. At that point, Superintendent Robert McCracken said, school officials usually see what programs they can add. This time, they looked at which ones could be kept.
The proposed 1991-92 budget finally approved reflected a $407,233 reduction. Based on the most recent statements from Richmond, Giles would 4.7 percent - or $363,000 - less state money.
Since Giles budgeted a bigger cut than that, the county would seem to be in good shape for the coming year - "if all stays the same," McCracken said. "Obviously, we're anxiously waiting to see what happens to the money bills that are down [in Richmond]."
The next step will be the salary question, which could involve asking Giles County supervisors for more local money. "We're just hoping we can protect people's salaries," McCracken said.
At this point, there will be fewer positions next year but not fewer teachers. Teacher reductions had already taken place in response to lower enrollment last year.
Rich Creek School was closed last year and King Johnson School will be closed at the end of this year. That will eliminate the job of the principal serving both schools, as well as a clerical worker, a janitor and a part-time janitor.
A central office reorganization reduced a staff of five to two. Remedial education, which is based on how much state money is available it, will drop 2 1/2 positions.
The non-personnel part of the reduction amounted to $100,000, derived mainly from "nickel and diming" as well as putting off things that can be postponed for a year, McCracken said. Postponing such major purchases as vehicles for a year will not hurt, he said, but putting them off longer could.
Floyd County is taking a laid-back position on the cuts so far.
"We've got some options, but we haven't even tried to deal with it," said Superintendent Omar G. Ross. It appears that the county is being cut 2.6 percent. "Of course, that changes daily," he said. "There's several variables there. Obviously, with that kind of cut, there's got to be some personnel decisions made somewhere."
The most frustration seems to stem from having to prepare budgets without knowing if more cuts are coming.
"All of us watch the papers with dread," said Montgomery County's Dodge. He likened the experience to balancing one's checkbook, with costs in one column and available money in another. "We're doing the expenditures but we don't know what the left hand is doing."
Obviously, making the budget decisions that have been made already has been difficult. "We're real frustrated in that we did all of that and then you pick up the paper and find out there may be more," Dodge said.
by CNB