Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 13, 1994 TAG: 9404130099
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By MARA LEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Although the total budget of $24.5 million will be growing by more than $800,000, the county's share, $7.9 million, remains unchanged.
In Asbury's presentation, he praised the supervisors for their "heroic effort" to maintain school funding, and spoke of the schools' strengths, including the first National Merit scholars ever in the last two years.
Because Pulaski enrollments have been declining over the last 20 years, level funding actually means more money per student. Last year the system served nearly 5,200 students; this year, administration expects 5,080.
"We hope it will level off in the next five years," Asbury said of the loss.
Supervisor Jerry White asked why the county figures were lower than the state's. "Our figures are more accurate than the state's," Asbury said. "We've given ourselves a fudge factor of 30 or 40 kids."
The superintendent also asked that the $500,000 in reversion funds, a routine funding cushion, stay in the system to go toward capital projects.
Some supervisors asked pointed questions about social services the schools provide. "I think they're sitting there taking money unnecessarily," said Bruce Fariss.
The social workers and guidance counselors are state mandates.
He also asked about early retirement costs, referring to the CPA who said the city's getting a raw deal.
Asbury said the interest rate was high on the payments, but that the General Assembly was the only group that could change that.
The largest bone of contention, however, was the low level of attention to the gifted population. Fariss said of the $157,000 allotment, "That's like spitting in the wind. Gifted education in Pulaski County is just a smidgen above nothing."
He said though ungraded, or non-age grouping, helped bright children fight boredom in elementary school, they got ahead of themselves in middle school and got used to not having to work.
Asbury said, "The way we've done this by age is ludicrous. All 5-year-olds aren't the same developmentally and all 8-year-olds aren't the same." He added that reform in cooperative learning and team teaching was under way, but moving slowly. "Our community doesn't want us to get too liberal and do things they don't understand," he said. "I can't say your concerns aren't valid."
Fariss dismissed the philosophical debate with a joke that got a lot of laughs. "This means young girls will get ahead, and that's why older men continue to marry younger women."
As the superintendent outlined initiatives, such as a planning period for elementary school teachers, upgrading the science department at Pulaski High School and simplifying the kindergarten through second-grade curriculum, he assured the supervisors, "We're definitely not status quo. We're changing and improving, but we're trying to do it within our means."
by CNB