Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 19, 1991 TAG: 9102190282
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The PTA is upset because the budget, which the School Board offered the supervisors last week, calls for a loss of five secondary teaching jobs, said Charles Nelson, president of the Christiansburg Elementary PTA.
The School Board has proposed cutting five teaching jobs next year - one in art, one in foreign language and three in vocational education. Nelson said his PTA believes all teaching positions should be retained.
The board sent the supervisors a $38.95 million budget for 1991-92, which is roughly $800,000 less than the adjusted budget for the current school year.
The board tried to hold the increase in local money needed next year to a minimum - not quite $200,000 - because of tough economic times and state cuts for schools and other county departments.
His PTA doesn't argue with the bottom line of the budget, Nelson said. But he said he believes other items could be cut from the proposal to save teaching jobs.
"We're not saying [the School Board] did a bad job," he said. "There's a lot of money out there and we want our teachers saved."
Successful students are the product of the school system and the teachers are the ones that produce that product, Nelson said.
The School Board, which is appointed rather than elected, is not accountable to the public, Nelson said. It's time somebody became accountable, he said.
Nelson said he hopes the supervisors can work with the School Board to save the teaching jobs. He said his PTA's proposal will be put before other PTA representatives on Thursday.
"I guess we believe there's fat in the budget," Nelson said.
Angie Knowles, president of the Christiansburg High School PTA, said Monday that she doesn't have enough information about Nelson's proposal and, therefore, doesn't know if she will support it.
She said, however, that she and other PTA members are upset with the proposed cuts in the school budget and the possible loss of teachers.
"I believe something needs to be done to turn this around," she said. "I'm very unhappy whenever our children's education is compromised."
Sandi Webster, president of the Blacksburg High School PTA, said her board has not taken a position on the Christiansburg Elementary PTA's proposal.
Webster said she feels it's important the PTAs, the School Board and the Board of Supervisors all work together to come up with a final budget everyone will feel good about.
Robert Goncz of Christiansburg, vice chairman of the School Board, said unless the PTA can say specifically where in the budget money for the teachers jobs can be found, he would be unable to respond to its proposal.
"If someone says `I've got a better idea,' they've got to give me some alternatives," he said.
The Board of Supervisors is the proper place for the PTA to take its concerns because the budget is in the board's hands now, Goncz said. But the supervisors, he pointed out, can only appropriate local money for schools and cannot legally make school policy decisions.
If the supervisors can come up with more money, the School Board wants to use it for raises. The proposed budget does not include raises.
Deputy School Superintendent Curtis Gray said the school administration used its best judgment in recommending to the School Board the elimination of the teaching jobs that were cut.
Salaries for school employees, including 600 teachers, make up 80 percent of the school budget. This means if the budget is to be cut significantly, the money most likely comes from salaries.
If he was told to go back into the budget and find the approximately $165,000 needed to keep the teachers, Gray said he would try.
However, Gray said the School Board had already been through a long process of deciding where to cut and where funding needed to be maintained.
Nobody was completely happy with the proposed budget, Gray said, and there were many split votes on the School Board as it was prepared.
The budget is not set in concrete, Gray said. He noted that in years past the School Board has added teachers after the budget was complete and the board decided they were needed.
Gray said parents and teachers have influenced the direction of school spending in the past.
"They represent what's best for children," he said.
by CNB