Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993 TAG: 9302060219
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TEACHERS TARGET COUNCIL FOR RAISES
Roanoke's teachers will take their case for higher pay raises to City Council.They also are hoping the General Assembly will provide money for teacher raises statewide.
If that happens, the teachers think they should receive raises of at least 6 percent to 7 percent - not the 2 percent to 4 percent cited earlier this week by Richard Kelley, executive for business affairs for city schools.
Teachers statewide got a big boost Friday when Gov. Douglas Wilder announced a $53 million increase in state revenues.
Wilder provided no money for teacher raises in his budget last month, but he said tax collections have exceeded expectations. That means the General Assembly money committees will have more to spend as they wind up work on budget amendments.
At a news conference Friday, Wilder said the increase "means we will be able to address some of the priorities which heretofore I was unable to recommend because of lack of funds. These include a salary increase for teachers and distribution of recordation tax proceeds to localities."
Teachers have been clamoring for the same 2 percent raise Wilder proposed for state employees. Such a raise would cost about $34 million a year. Wilder has said he did not propose teacher raises because they have received annual increases from localities while state workers' pay has lagged.
Also, localities have been pressing the General Assembly to keep a promise to return about $20 million in real estate recordation taxes, paid when real-estate deeds are filed.
Even before the new money was found, many legislators said they doubted they would go home without giving teachers a raise.
Roanoke's teachers were pleased with Wilder's announcement, but they still will appeal to council.
City officials have indicated they might be hard-pressed to provide a larger increase in local funds for schools than the preliminary projection of $1.5 million.
City Manager Bob Herbert told council recently that preliminary estimates indicate the city could face a revenue shortfall of $1.5 million in the next fiscal year.