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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 19, 1994                   TAG: 9402210333
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY   
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOL BOARD MAKES OFFER TO DROP TAKEOVER BID

Linkous' letter contains a carrot-and-stick offer to drop a takeover bid of the finance department.

The letter, hand-delivered Thursday to school officials, came with copies of the resolutions the Board of Supervisors passed at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The board voted 6-0 to endorse a proposed agreement while holding up $235,000 for the school finance department until the School Board accepts the proposal.

The letter from Linkous to School Board Chairman Roy Vickers states that the agreement "will not interfere with the authority of the School Board to manage and operate" its schools.

In offering to drop the effort to consolidate the schools' purchasing and accounting staffs with the county's own, the Board of Supervisors "has accepted the apparent point of view of the School Board" that the merger is unnecessary, Linkous wrote.

"I am sorry that there was not an opportunity to discuss with you this agreement prior to its approval by the Board of Supervisors," Linkous continued.

The proposal, coming with no prior notice and after a closed-door session involving only the supervisors and their staff, surprised school officials, who have worked since last summer to try to repair the often-strained relations with the governing board.

Also surprising to school officials is that the supervisors tied acceptance of the agreement to receiving money for purchasing and accounting expenses.

The original resolution the board considered Monday would have held only money for the last quarter of the year - some $117,000 - over the School Board's head. Instead, at the suggestion of County Attorney Roy Thorpe and the urging of Supervisor Ira Long, Supervisor Joe Gorman moved to tie in money for twice that amount. He and Thorpe eliminated mention of the allotment for the final quarter, meaning it will have to be appropriated in the future.

"If they approve that resolution, then we approve the transfer of funds," Gorman said Tuesday. "If they don't approve it, the transfer doesn't take place."

The dispute arose two years ago when Linkous and other supervisors believed they weren't given timely access to financial data about the operation of the school system.

Top county and school officials met Wednesday to talk about the new proposal. Though the School Board will meet again with the supervisors next week, that time is set to go over the 1994-95 budget proposal, not the merger issue.

Instead, Linkous is scheduled to attend the March 1 Montgomery School Board meeting, where the proposal will be on the agenda.

The proposal sets 13 reporting conditions the School Board must meet, ranging from a monthly listing of outstanding purchase orders to details of how the school budget will be prepared. The agreement also would allow the supervisors to immediately consolidate the school finance operations with its own if the terms are not met. Moreover, the School Board would waive its right to sue the Board of Supervisors over such a consolidation.