Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 25, 1992 TAG: 9202250241
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HEARING TONIGHT ON SCHOOL BUDGET
Tonight's the night for parents, teachers, students and anyone who's interested to tell the Roanoke School Board how to spend its money.A public hearing on the board's budget for next year is scheduled for 7 p.m. at James Madison Middle School on Overland Road.
Last year, the School Board made unprecedented cuts to longstanding programs to balance its budget. It also froze employee salaries. Yet only a handful of parents and teachers spoke at a public hearing, none of whom voiced any strong opposition to the cuts.
This year, the budget picture is a little better. But it's still not rosy.
The School Board expects an additional $3.3 million in local, state and federal funding. But there is at least $8.8 million in budget requests - many of them to restore programs cut last year - that the board will have to sift through and decide which it can afford.
Among those decisions will be whether to fund the following: an adult nursing program, more maintenance workers, a program to send students to the Roanoke Symphony, expanded preschool classes, more reading teachers, seven-period high school days and new school buses.
None of those, however, has been mentioned as top priorities. The board's biggest and most expensive priority will be giving employees their first raises in two years. To do that, though, could use up much - or all - of the $3.3 million, depending on the size of the raise.
Teachers want a 7 percent raise, which would bring them back to a level near the state average; some have said they would probably settle for a 5 percent raise, though.
Dorothy Cooper, president of the Roanoke Education Association, which represents school employees, said it's time the board made a commitment to teachers. "We really haven't had any reasonable raise in three years," she said.
She plans to tell the board as much tonight, but the board seems to be leaning toward a 3 percent raise. That's what has been suggested by the school administration and is the same amount city employees will likely get.
School Board member Marilyn Curtis said teachers have been patient and the board plans to give them "as much of an increase as we can possibly give them."