SCHOOLS UNSURE OF STATE FUNDS

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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 24, 1992                   TAG: 9201240421
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SCHOOLS UNSURE OF STATE FUNDS
When it rains like it did Thursday, some Roanoke County schools start breaking out the buckets and towels.
"Everywhere I turn somebody's telling me about a roofing problem," county PTA President Debra Holdren told the Roanoke County School Board on Thursday.
Leaking roofs was just one issue raised at the board's public hearing on its upcoming school budget. Also, school employees are facing another year without a raise and the board may not be able to afford the 10 new school buses it bid on last year but has yet to purchase.
Last year at this time, the School Board knew where it stood regarding state funding for its budget: about $2 million short. This year, the board has no idea how much money it will - or won't - get from the state, and probably won't know until March.
Gov. Douglas Wilder's proposed budget would give Roanoke County $4 million more than last year. But full funding of that budget is doubtful since sales tax revenues are falling short of what the board expected.
Superintendent Bayes Wilson said $350,000 left over from last year's budget reserved for the 10 new school buses is now at risk.
Holdren presented the board with a resolution from the PTA and the Roanoke County Education Association urging the board to make employee salaries its top priority. The board approved the resolution, but Chairman Frank Thomas warned, "We may have to work another year without the possibility of a raise."
Geraldine Barber, coordinator of the Cave Spring High School indoor track program, also spoke to the board, urging it to find about $3,000 to keep the 20-year-old program from folding.

***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on January 26, 1992.
A story in Friday's Virginia section about the Roanoke County School Board meeting contained incorrect information about a resolution by the county PTA and the Roanoke County Education Association. The resolution urged Gov. Douglas Wilder to give full support to the State Board of Education's budget requests and improvements to education. The supervisors voted to adopt the same resolution.
Memo: CORRECTION

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB