Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke's teachers might get a smaller pay raise than they expect this year because of Gov. George Allen's proposed cuts in state school funds.
Superintendent Wayne Harris said Wednesday night that Allen's cuts could cause Roanoke schools to lose $500,000.
Harris had proposed an average 4.2 percent raise for teachers before the governor disclosed his budget recommendations.
If the city's proposed $77.6 million school budget has to be reduced by a half-million dollars, Harris said it might be difficult to provide all of the raises.
Employee salaries and fringe benefits comprise 82 percent of total expenditures in Roanoke's school budget.
"If I have to cut the budget by $500,000, there is one place where I would have to look," Harris said.
If taken entirely from salaries, a $500,000 budget cut could lower the average raise to 3.2 percent.
At a public hearing on the budget, Harris asked parents to contact their state legislators and urge them to restore the money for schools.
Allen's cuts would eliminate or reduce funds for several programs designed to reduce the dropout rate, provide homework assistance and help foreign students learn English.
To preserve these programs, Harris would have to look elsewhere in the budget.
City teachers already have complained that average raises of 4.2 percent are not enough - and some teachers who are to get only 2 percent raise are unhappy. About 200 teachers would receive 2 percent raises because of where they fall on the pay scale.
The Roanoke Education Association has asked for an 8 percent to 10 percent raise so Roanoke's salaries can catch up with those in Salem and Roanoke County. That could cost from $2 million to $3 million more than Harris has budgeted.
The average salary for Roanoke teachers is $33,722, about $2,000 below Salem's average and about $500 below Roanoke County's.
No REA representatives attended the hearing, the first in a series of four by Harris. But Mercedes James, REA president, said the organization will be represented at the next three.
Roanoke is in the midst of a three-year plan to raise teacher salaries by 12 percent to become more competitive in the Roanoke Valley and with other urban areas in the state.
Harris has made teacher salaries one of his budget priorities. Teachers received average raises of 4.6 percent in the current school year.
The turnout for the budget hearing was sparse on a cold night, but school administrators expect a larger audience next week if the weather is warmer.
The school budget calls for hiring 12 more teachers to reduce class sizes in the lower grades in elementary schools that have high concentrations of students from low-income families.
The city hired 25 additional teachers this year to meet the state's mandate to qualify for disparity funds. But the city will need more because elementary enrollment is projected to increase.
Since 1990, the school system has hired 90 additional teachers to provide smaller classes and to accommodate growth in enrollment.
The proposed budget is up nearly $4 million, or 5.3 percent, over this year.
by CNB