Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992 TAG: 9203060353
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Norfolk would get the most funding by far - $7.4 million for 1992-94. Richmond would get $4.3 million; Portsmouth would receive $4.2 million; and Newport News would receive $3.4 million.
The state's two largest suburban school systems also would get a hefty funding boost. Virginia Beach would receive $3.2 million and Fairfax County would get $2.2 million.
Roanoke and Petersburg each would get about $1.7 million. Three Southwest Virginia counties - Buchanan, Lee and Tazewell - each would receive between $1.4 million and $1.6 million.
The spending plan was drafted by six senior Democratic legislators who worked out a compromise between Senate and House of Delegates versions of the 1992-94 state budget. Both chambers are to vote on the budget before the General Assembly adjourns Saturday.
The budget negotiators were Sens. Stanley Walker of Norfolk, Hunter Andrews of Hampton and Charles Colgan of Manassas, and Dels. Robert Ball of Richmond, Alan Diamonstein of Newport News and Earl Dickinson of Louisa County.
Walker said the amounts for each locality were determined by a formula that included per capita income and enrollment levels. "We didn't go the pork barrel route," he said.
In Norfolk, as many as 90 percent of the pupils in some poor neighborhoods fail to graduate, Walker said.
"You have just as much of a disparity problem in your inner cities as you do in the rural areas," he said.
The lawmakers added the money in response to pressure from a coalition of rural and inner-city school districts that sued Virginia last year to get more state aid. The coalition agreed to withdraw the lawsuit to give the Legislature a chance to act.
The coalition contended that students in poor localities receive a worse education than those in wealthy, suburban districts because the poor districts cannot afford to spend as much on schools.
Gov. Douglas Wilder had proposed no money for school disparity in his budget proposal in January, but on Tuesday gave up a pet project - repeal of the sales tax on non-prescription drugs - so poor schools could get another $31 million.
The budget negotiators found enough money from other sources to produce $80 million to combat school-funding disparities.
About $46 million would be used to defray the extra costs of educating poor students most at risk of failing in school. Another $23 million would be divided among all 138 school divisions to help maintain school buildings.
School divisions that have lost state aid because of declining enrollments would get $8 million, and districts with a large number of immigrant students would get $2 million. Eighty-nine school divisions have students for whom English is a second language.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.