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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 26, 1994                   TAG: 9403300008
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

PULASKI COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD OKS $24.5 MILLION PROPOSED BUDGET

Approval came Thursday night after a public hearing at which no one spoke for or against the proposed budget.

Since the School Board's last budget workshop March 17, several more reductions were necessary in what had been planned for the next school year after more became known about the amount of state funds coming to Pulaski County.

The planned 1994-95 salary increase, originally set at 3 percent, was dropped to 2.75 percent.

Superintendent Bill Asbury said that is the average and some employees will get a little more than 2.75 percent and some a little less as efforts continue to bring salaries into line for employees working at various levels of experience and responsibility.

He said teachers' salaries in the county are competitive at the upper end of the pay scale, but not at the lower end.

Planned pay supplements for teachers who have additional responsibilities relating to sports or extracurricular activities also were reduced, and are now being viewed by school officials as the first step in a two or three-year effort at compensating teachers for the extra work.

``I think everybody is headed in the right direction. We just can't get there from here this year. This is a good beginning,'' Asbury said.

The salary increases are not uniform but vary with the time and responsibilities involved in the activity.

A 3 percent increase in health insurance premiums covered by the school system was changed to reflect a lower estimated participation by employees in the program.

A 1.25 percent salary increase deferred from last year is still in the budget. Gone are school bus replacements budgeted at $124,000 and the first phase of a Pulaski County High School science technology program at $60,000.

The budget reflects an increase of $858,482 from the current year, with most of the increase coming from state funds and some from federal money.

The county's share of the budget would be the same as the current 1993-94 year, and $100,000 less than what the county paid in the 1992-93 year.

The county will cover about 32 percent of the proposed budget, and the federal government 5 percent, with most of the rest coming from the state.