Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412150043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Not this year. And that apparently will cause a clash over the proposed $77.6 million school budget that could pit the teachers against the School Board, City Council and City Manager Bob Herbert.
The teachers say that Superintendent Wayne Harris' proposed average salary increase of 4.2 percent for the next school year won't cut it. They want an 8 percent to 10 percent raise so their salaries will catch up with those in Salem and Roanoke County.
The average salary for Roanoke teachers is $33,722, nearly $2,000 below Salem's average and almost $500 below Roanoke County's.
But Harris said the money is not available this year for larger raises.
"If I had the money to do it, I would," he said.
The financial outlook for schools is uncertain because of Gov. George Allen's proposed budget cuts and elimination of the business-license tax, Harris said. Roanoke schools eventually could lose $3 million a year.
"The environment is frightening," Harris said. "The picture is not pretty."
Under Allen's proposal, the state would absorb the city's loss in revenue from the business-license tax for the next five years. But that wouldn't include money the city would have received from growth in business license tax receipts, said Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations.
Kelley said this would mean an immediate loss of $150,000 a year - and possibly $300,000, depending on the growth rate.
But some teachers want the School Board to provide higher salaries despite the financial crunch. Gary Waldo, executive director of the Roanoke Education Association, said Harris and the board should go to Herbert and the council and ask for more money.
Wednesday, Herbert said it is too early to say whether the city might provide more than the $2.1 million increase in local money that is included in the proposed school budget. That's more than half the total $4 million increase.
Increased revenue from sales and personal property taxes has been cited as one reason why the city can provide $2.1 million more. But city revenue estimates were made about two months earlier than usual because Harris wanted them so he could prepare his preliminary budget, Herbert said. The superintendent will have hearings on the budget in January and February before it is approved in March and forwarded to City Council.
The revenue estimates are based on only five months of tax receipts - from July through November - and the trends could change by March, Herbert said.
Herbert, worried that Allen's budget and tax cuts might cause headaches for both City Council and the School Board, said he doesn't want to create false hopes that the city will have more money available for schools.
"We don't know of any additional revenue," he said.
Gary Stultz, executive vice president of the Roanoke Education Association, said the teachers want the board to stick with its three-year plan to make the city's salaries competitive with nearby school divisions.
Stultz said the board's effort to raise salaries for teachers near the bottom and top of the salary scale has helped. But teachers in the middle are taking a beating, he said.
Middle-level teachers are the backbone of the school system and their salaries must be increased to keep or recruit these teachers, Stultz said.
The board made no commitment on the pay issue, but it agreed to survey teachers to determine their feelings on salaries and their morale and concerns. The teachers' organization has been pushing for a survey for several months.
"I think we need to take a look and hear what the people in the trenches have to say," said Don Poff, a board member.
Mercedes James, president of the Roanoke Education Association, said teachers are frustrated and depressed.
"I hear from [teachers and school employees] the despair and the desolation concerning situations with their students and their building administrators," James told the School Board. "Many of our teachers feel that not only don't you listen, but that you don't really care.''
The Rev. Nelson Harris, the School Board chairman, said the board does care and the survey should help identify teacher concerns.
by CNB