Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They say they deserve a cut of the schools' $2.4 million surplus that is earmarked for buses, computers and building repairs.
They would like to see part of the money used for pay raises so their salaries will be closer to those in nearby localities.
But school administrators said Thursday that an agreement with the city apparently would prevent that, because the funds can't be used for personnel costs. They also said using the surplus for salaries could be financially risky.
"When we have a $2.4 million surplus and our salaries are lower than surrounding school systems', we have a problem with that," said Gary Waldo, executive director of the Roanoke Education Association.
Waldo said the School Board should use half of the money to provide an additional 3 percent raise for teachers in the next year.
"They could give higher raises and still have some funds left for other things," he said. "Teachers are angry that their salaries continue to be lower than other localities', but the schools have a large surplus."
Earlier, the board approved an average raise of 4.6 percent for teachers in the upcoming school year.
Waldo also said figures on average salaries in the school system's year-end financial report are inconsistent with earlier statements by Superintendent Wayne Harris and Richard Kelley, assistant superintendent for operations.
Harris and Kelley have said that raises in the past two years averaged more than 4 percent, but Waldo said the figures on average salaries don't support that.
"The figures don't jibe, and they undercut the credibility of Harris and Kelley," he said.
Harris defended the accuracy of his earlier statements and the year-end report, saying the issue is more complicated than just comparing average salaries for different years.
Harris said he would not recommend using any surplus funds for teacher raises because that could cause future financial problems for the school system.
"This is a one-time revenue balance, and we can't count on it next year," he said. "If we used it for salaries and we didn't have it next year, we could be financially strapped."
Kelley said the increase in the average teacher salary does not match the increase in the salary scale each year because as teachers retire they often are replaced with younger teachers at a lower salary. As a result, this slows the increase in the average salary for the school system, he said.
The average salary is calculated by dividing the payroll by the number of teachers.
"As much as we would like to provide larger raises, using surplus funds for raises would violate sound financial management practices," he said.
Waldo said Harris and Kelley have shown little concern for teachers' salaries. In fact, however, Harris has made higher salaries his top budget priority since he became superintendent 21/2 years ago.
"They don't care one iota about teachers, and the teachers are getting tired of the games they are playing with numbers," Waldo said. "They've had enough of this phony baloney."
Nelson Harris, chairman of the School Board, said the school system has an agreement with the city requiring the surplus funds to be used for equipment and maintenance projects. The city uses its share of the surplus for similar expenses.
He said there is no way for the board to anticipate the surplus when it prepares the school budget each year.
Nelson Harris said the board has demonstrated its concern for teachers by setting a goal of providing 6 percent raises in each of the next three years to raise salaries to the national average. The cumulative raises will be 23 percent over the period, he said.
"That is a pretty significant commitment. No one can say we aren't raising salaries," he said.
Roanoke's average salaries are nearly $2,500 below the national average.
In the coming school year, city teachers will average $36,315; the national average is $38,802. Roanoke's salaries range from $25,937 for a starting teacher to $40,523 for a teacher with a master's degree and more than two decades of experience.
Based on projected increases over the next three years, Roanoke teachers would average about $43,865 by the 1998-99 school year.
by CNB