Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 29, 1991 TAG: 9103290431
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON/ EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The bad news is: The budget is less than one-half of 1 percent bigger.
Actually, there's really not much good news at all in the $68.3 million budget the School Board adopted Thursday night. The budget allots $300,000 more than this year - a 0.44 percent increase, which is the lowest in recent history.
It's a budget that, by standing still at this year's level, will get bypassed by inflation and rising insurance costs.
"I think what concerns this board the most is that the shortfall might continue," said Chairman Frank Thomas.
No new programs. No new money to maintain school buildings. No new school buses. No construction. No new personal leave and sick leave days for employees. And, maybe worst of all, no raises.
Those are just some of the results of the budget that had to be cut to the bare minimums to compensate for cuts in state funding.
"There truthfully is no fat in this budget," Thomas said.
The board did, however, avoid laying off employees, cutting programs or cutting salaries, which had been one board member's suggestion.
The budget now goes to the supervisors for their approval.
Expressing disapproval before Thursday's meeting was Doris Boitnott, executive director of the Roanoke County Education Association.
Boitnott said teachers represented by the organization are upset about not getting pay raises. They also are upset that the School Board had to cut a provision for additional personal-leave days, which teachers have fought for since it was cut five years ago.
Superintendent Bayes Wilson has said he had hoped to return those days, which allow teachers to take time off for personal reasons, but the board couldn't afford the $75,000 cost.
Another problem was that cutting money for instructional programs and supplies forces teachers to pay for items themselves, Boitnott said.
"Any time you dig into an instructional account, that means teachers are going to be digging into their own pockets even further," Boitnott said.
And that's expecting a lot from teachers who aren't getting raises, she added.
One of the more disturbing things about the budget situation, Boitnott and others said, is that it's not likely to improve soon.
"We're expecting another bad year next year," Boitnott said.
Jerry Hardy, director of budget and data management, said he fears that the state overestimated sales-tax revenue projections for next year. That was part of the problem this year, he said, when sales-tax revenues fell $500,000 short of the amount the state estimated for this year's school budget.
Another crippled part of the budget is the board's capital improvements program. Supervisors had told board members they would not be unable to fund any of the nearly $15 million for eight construction projects on their priority list. Now board members are considering borrowing from the state Literary Fund and asked voters to approve a bond referendum to finance those projects.
by CNB