Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411070039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Almost every night for two months, Gereau has been in the community shaking hands, passing out pamphlets and answering questions to win voter support.
The support he's seeking isn't for himself - it's for Franklin County schools.
The school bond referendum that Gereau is touting is just one of many questions that will bombard Franklin County voters Tuesday.
In addition to the overshadowing U.S. Senate and 5th District congressional races and proposed amendments to the state constitution, there's an industrial development bond referendum, an elected-vs.-appointed school board question and a special election for commissioner of revenue.
Among these background issues, the school bond question has become the standout.
The referendum asks voters to agree to committing $14.7million to ease overcrowding; to build a technology magnet school, outdoor track and maintenance building; and to upgrade technology in existing schools.
"We were expecting 480 kindergartners in September, but 530 showed up. ... We got an additional 200 students that we didn't expect countywide," Gereau said.
To accommodate that growth, schools have found innovative solutions, such as holding classes in cafeterias and libraries and using closets as computer labs.
But Gereau said these are temporary solutions to a problem that will only get worse, according to a study conducted by the state Department of Education and an education specialist from Virginia Tech.
They estimate that by 2002, Franklin County's enrollment will jump from the 6,600 now to 7,500.
The solution the School Board is proposing is the addition of 23 elementary school classrooms countywide. The proposed 500-student technology magnet school for eighth-graders and selected ninth-graders also would ease overcrowding at the middle and high schools.
Students at the technology school would have a multitude of classes and labs from which to choose. Classes such as robotics, automation and hydraulics were suggested by area industry leaders. The School Board hasn't selected a site for the technology school.
"The bottom line is, our children need to graduate with more marketable skills," Gereau said, ``and technology is where the jobs are.''
The board proposes that construction be done in phases, starting next year with technology upgrades, design and possible construction of the technology school and classroom additions at Ferrum, Boones Mill, Sontag and Dudley elementary schools.
But the bottom line for voters is that the School Board's plans cost money.
Even if the county can secure lower-interest loans from the state and doesn't borrow all of the money at one time, the cost to residents will be about a 2-cent increase per $100 valuation in real estate taxes, said David Laurrell, assistant county administrator. The Board of Supervisors would have to approve any increase in the tax rate.
Although the school-improvement and county-improvement bonds are separate issues on the ballot, the 2-cent increase Laurrell cited would include payment for the proposed $2.7 million county-improvement bond as well.
The improvements would include site development to attract new industry; the addition of a lower level to the courthouse for a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court; and the development of two new parks - one at the Waid Recreation Area off Virginia 640, and one at Smith Mountain Lake off Virginia 942 near Scruggs.
The proposed tax increase comes on the heels of a 10-cent real estate tax increase last year. The majority of that money went to the schools, Laurrell said.
That concerns Franklin County resident Jerry Hodges.
"We need better management of the money we have," said Hodges, who home-schools his children. "I'd like to drive a Lincoln Continental and two sports cars, but those things cost money, and we're not a real high-income county. You need to live within your means."
But John Bernard of Boones Mill said even a 4-cent increase - the cost if the county were to borrow all of the money at one time - would be worth it.
"We need a good education and a good base for taxing," Bernard said, ``and one way to get a larger tax base is to attract more industry.''
As will those in Salem and Radford, the county's voters also must decide whether to continue having School Board members appointed or to go the way of Roanoke County and have them elected.
It's a philosophical issue that has sparked many a debate.
People such as Jerry Johnson, who has campaigned for several years to get the question on the ballot, believe that electing the members will give voters a greater say in school matters.
"The passion that I have is that the School Board is government, and we need to have local control of all government," Johnson said at a Boones Mill Christian Church gathering of voters.
Opponents argue that the system in place works.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," said Guy Buford, the Boones Mill District board member. "The process that we now have consciously tries to get diversity of backgrounds, educations, races and gender."
The current method also gets people who work for the county as a whole, not just their districts, said William Helm, the board's at-large member.
"Nothing is impossible, but I am truly concerned that not only people of color, but also women would be excluded if the board were elected," said Helm, the board's only minority member.
On the contested election front, incumbent Joyce Fuller and Raymond Albanowski are quietly bidding for the position of commissioner of revenue.
Fuller, who took over the job in March, is running as a Republican but isn't pushing any issues. Her Democratic opponent, however, is.
Albanowski's main pitch is a change in the county's taxing system from yearly bills to semiannual ones.
Fuller said she's hoping her 27 years of experience in the commissioner's office, first as clerk, then as deputy commissioner, will speak for itself.
The special election is to fill the slot vacated by the retirement of Ben Pinckard, who occupied the position for 17 years. The position will come up for election again next year.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***