Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412120050
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"We very much believe that the money coming from the state will be lean in comparison to other years," Superintendent Herman Bartlett said this week. "That means we'll be counting on localities to make up that difference."
Dan Morris, director of finance for Montgomery County schools, presented preliminary numbers for the first of a two-part budget to School Board members Tuesday night. This portion, called the "rollover budget," is simply the cost of maintaining schools as they are now, adding a slight increase for inflation.
The second portion of the budget - teachers' salaries, initiatives from the six-year plan, goals from the Focus 2006 Planning Commission and other instructional plans - will be presented by Bartlett on Jan. 3. A total budget amount has not been determined.
Morris stressed that even if the board asked for the same increase it received in this year's school budget - $2.6 million - it may be harder for the county to come up with the money.
Last year, the county contributed $441,394 of the $2.6 million increase in funding. The other $2.2 million increase in the schools' $45.3 million budget came from the state and federal governments.
"We think the state is going to add about $800,000" this year, Morris said. "Given that number, the remaining $1.8 million would have to come from the localities. It could look like the School Board is being greedy but they'd be asking for the same amount of money as last year."
Morris is predicting the low dollar number because "it's the second year in the state's biennium budget, and those years tend to be less in terms of dollars," he said. "We hope we don't have a revenue problem but it is too early to tell."
Also, he said, schools must consider big-ticket items coming from the governor's office such as new prisons, proposed tax cuts and the settlement with illegally taxed retirees.
"We don't know where they'll get the money for those things," Morris said. "It's got to come from somewhere, and it could be schools."
"We've heard whispers, but we just don't know for sure how much to expect" until Gov. George Allen unveils the annual state budget on Dec. 19, Bartlett told the board.
School personnel and support staff also had a chance to voice their concerns over the budget. Speakers representing teachers, custodians, secretaries, maintenance workers and bus drivers presented their budget requests. Cafeteria workers and principals will present their requests later.
Montgomery County bus drivers are particularly eager to receive some form of benefits package from the schools for a job they say is requiring more and more skills. About 25 bus drivers applauded after bus driver Judi Yon asked the board to consider giving health and retirement benefits to all full-time bus drivers. Montgomery County is one of only two counties in the New River and Roanoke valleys that does not offer benefits to its drivers.
Michael Reilly of the Montgomery County Education Association presented a proposal that would bring teachers' salaries to the state average within three years. The plan has received support from Bartlett, who suggested the more affordable three-year approach to bringing teacher salaries up to par.
by CNB