Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
However, funding for the budget, a 7.7 percent increase - or $3.5 million - over this year's budget, may be hard to obtain.
The state is offering only $650,000 in additional funding to Montgomery schools for next year, compared to $2.2 million in this year's budget. That means the rest of the proposed school funding - $2.8 million - must come from the county.
"... we may have a dilemma because it's the second year of the biennium and the state isn't offering as much money," said Dan Morris, the school division's director of finance. "The proposal looks reasonable, but we have to be prepared for whatever reaction we may get" from the Board of Supervisors.
The Board of Supervisors said last week it could only give schools an increase of $506,700 next year, leaving the School Board $2.3 million short in its budget proposal.
The money the School Board is asking for, said Board of Supervisors Chairman Larry Linkous, would amount to a 14 percent increase in county funds.
"It may be realistic as far as the needs that exist in the schools," he said. But "it's unrealistic to think that the county could make that kind of an increase in a single year. Something in the magnitude of that amount could not be funded."
Why propose such a budget knowing money is scarce?
"You have to remember that the Six-Year Plan is what the community and the county demanded," said Morris. The plan evolved from the Focus 2006 study of school needs by a countywide citizens panel.
"The School Board's responsibility is for the educational needs to be addressed, regardless of where the funding comes from," said Morris. "Remember, too, this particular proposal may never make it to the Board of Supervisors."
The proposed budget will be reviewed and altered by the School Board, which meets again tonight at 7:30. A final proposal will not be introduced until Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at a public hearing in Christiansburg High School.
The superintendent's budget is an optimistic one that addresses most of the concerns relayed through the Focus 2006 Group, made up of teachers, administrators and community members. The proposed budget consists of four parts:
Costs associated with maintaining schools as they are, adding a slight increase for inflation. The total cost for this part of the budget would be $45.2 million.
Goals from the Focus 2006 Group and the Six-Year Plan for School Improvement: These initiatives, at a cost of $2.4 million, would add 18 new teachers to keep up with school growth, six new mobile classrooms, technology upgrades, gifted resource teachers, an assistant principal at Blacksburg Middle School, new science, math and vocational equipment, alternative education program upgrades, support staff at selected elementary schools, a 1 percent salary increase for teachers and an additional 50 percent increase in funding for school bus replacements.
Teacher salaries: A 3 percent salary increase for teachers would cost $1 million, not counting the additional 1 percent increase called for in the Six-Year Plan. Bartlett said he would like to give teachers the opportunity to choose how to use that total 4 percent increase, whether through a combination of benefits or a flat salary increase.
Buses and vehicles: The proposed budget would set aside $256,000 to purchase 12 new buses and pay off eight others. Larry Schoff, director of maintenance and facilities, said the county needs to buy six to eight new buses a year to bring the current fleet up to date.
by CNB