Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230149
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Gov. George Allen's proposed budget, although giving county schools a slight dollar increase over last year, would eliminate dropout prevention and English-as-a-second-language programs.
It also may be too slim to fund the long-term goals of Focus 2006 - much-needed building improvements, reduced pupil-teacher ratios and educational technology.
"It does not look as damaging as we thought, but the bottom line is certainly less than we felt like we'd get," Superintendent Herman Bartlett said Thursday. The numbers are still being reviewed, he said, and have not been finalized. "... it's really too early to start speculating."
Bartlett pointed out that the numbers from the governor's office are only preliminary. "The General Assembly will pass the final tally."
"Even though it's not as much money as we had hoped for, we've still got our fingers crossed to some degree."
Last year, the governor proposed a $24.4 million budget for the county schools. This year, the total is $25.3 million. The per-pupil costs of $3,800 per student remained approximately the same.
While members of the Montgomery County Education Association are still waiting for their copies of the budget, Rob Jones, president of the Virginia Education Association, said he was pleased that teacher salary increases were not eliminated.
"Even though it's 2.25 percent, we were relieved to see that is wasn't taken out."
Jones said teachers have lost close to 7 percent of their salary over the past four years, "when you count inflation," he added.
The program that seemed to be hardest hit in Montgomery County is a dropout prevention program aimed at teen-agers throughout the county.
Last year, the state offered $87,792. This year, the program is eliminated.
"This would have a tremendous impact with what we're trying to do," said Richard Ballengee, instructional supervisor for the county. "We've made good progress with the alternative programs, and the work-force programs we've started here."
Another potential problem for the county could be the loss of money for the English-as-a-second-language program, which is particularly important for the higher than average international population in Blacksburg.
The program, which received $15,416 last year, was eliminated, too.
Maintenance money usually supplied by the state was eliminated this year, partly because of increased availability of the Virginia Literary Loan Fund, Allen said. The Literary Loan Fund offers low-interest loans to schools needing major improvements, renovations or new buildings in their districts.
"We don't really understand what that means because there are always schools waiting to get on that list," Jones, of the VEA, said. "That's something we need to look at a little closer."
Ralph Shotwell, director of finance and research at the VEA, said Allen's use of lower student enrollment projections to fund schools could be a problem for localities, especially Montgomery County which is growing at a faster rate than predicted.
"Those adjusted numbers could lead to budget problems for the state and localities down the road," he said.
by CNB