Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992 TAG: 9202260301
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RAISES, ALTERNATIVE ED MAKE PRIORITY LIST
Parents, teachers and students got their chance Tuesday to tell the Roanoke School Board how to spend the $3.3 million it expects to get when there's $8.8 million in needs.Only nine spoke at the public hearing for the 1992-93 school budget.
The most terse comments came from teacher Mason Powell, who told the board that teachers were tired of "getting the salary shaft."
"Anything less than 7 percent [teacher raises] is unconscionable," Powell said.
The most touching comments were Joel Kelly's.
Kelly doesn't get angry very often.
But he learned in a newspaper article that some Roanoke students with disciplinary or behavioral problems don't get the help they need unless extra money is available.
"That made me very angry," Kelly said.
What angered Kelly was that the Alternative Education program survives mainly on grant funds and is never sure from year to year how much money it will get from the School Board.
Speaking slowly into a microphone, Kelly told board members he is concerned because he is disabled. And, as a member of the Mayor's Committee for the Disabled, he doesn't like to see others who have special needs get snubbed.
All students should be treated equally.
So, the board should fully fund the Alternative Education program, Kelly said.
After the hearing, the board took a step toward doing that by accepting a list of 10 recommended funding priorities from the school administration. Those priorities would cost $3.3 million, which is the amount of new money the School Board expects to receive next year.
In addition to funding for Alternative Education, that list also includes money for a 3 percent salary raise for school employees, the full-day kindergarten program, smaller class sizes in grades K-2 and two police "resource officers" at both high schools.
However, those priorities are based on Gov. Douglas Wilder's state budget proposal. The General Assembly is juggling that and two other proposals, either of which could give Roanoke another $424,000 to $1.1 million.
That creates a problem for the School Board. It must adopt a balanced budget by March 10 but probably won't know which state budget the assembly approves until March 9.
Meanwhile, the board plans to stick with the priorities it approved Tuesday and will put programs it decided not to fund on a "supplemental budget," which would be funded if extra money becomes available.
Programs the board probably will not afford include: expanded preschool; an adult nursing program; more reading teachers and teaching assistants; and seven-period high school days.