BOARD MAY NOT SUPPORT TEACHER RAISE OF 4 1/2%

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

DATE: SATURDAY, January 16, 1993                   TAG: 9301160132
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
BOARD MAY NOT SUPPORT TEACHER RAISE OF 4 1/2%
Preliminary discussions by the Montgomery County School Board indicate support for a 1993-94 budget that's larger than the Board of Supervisors may be willing to fund.
But it appears the School Board may be unwilling to support all of the 4.5 percent raise teachers are asking for next year.
The School Board has been meeting twice a week through January trying to get a budget ready to present the supervisors by Feb. 1. All discussions so far have been preliminary and no hard decisions or votes have been made on any portion of the budget.
In December, supervisors directed the School Board to prepare a budget for next year based on this year's $41.3 million budget, of which $18.9 million is local funds.
Thursday night, however, a majority of board members indicated they might be willing to support a budget that would go beyond that.
They indicate support for a budget that would compensate for increased costs due to inflation and new regulatory requirements, provide fuding to pay the debt on a new Blacksburg elementary school and provide the additional teachers that Superintendent Harold Dodge says the county needs.
The cost of such a proposal would be nearly $44 million or $2.7 million more than the current year's budget.
The greatest portion of that increase would be $1.6 million for 38.4 new teaching positions. Of those new teaching spots, the school administration said state law would require 18.5. The rest are recommended by Dodge.
Most board members supported going beyond state requirements in adding new teachers, speaking of the need for lower pupil-teacher ratios in the schools.
The $44 million figure does not include money for employee raises or for a number of budget "iniatives" that have been proposed by Dodge and individual School Board members.
The requested raises and all of Dodge's proposals - not counting intiatives by board members - would require a $48 million budget.
At least four of eight board members indicated they have reservations about supporting all of the 4.5 percent raise teachers are asking for. Teachers are scheduled to make their salary proposal to the board at Tuesday's board meeting.
"At this point I won't support 4.5 percent," said Board Vice Chairman Bob Goncz of Christiansburg. But, he added, employees do deserve some raise.
Dodge told the board that word from Richmond indicates the General Assembly may provide enough additional money for a 2 percent raise for teachers this year. But the legislature would require that the money be spent on raises, he said.
Last year, Montgomery County and some other localities used additional state money allocated to reduce disparities between richer and poorer school districts to reduce their own local share of school budgets. Dodge guessed the legislature would probably not allow that to happen again.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB