Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
To reduce disparity among school divisions, the General Assembly began providing state money last year for smaller classes in kindergarten through third grade in schools with a high percentage of children from low-income families.
Roanoke has received $1 million a year to hire 34 additional teachers for smaller classes under the disparity legislation.
The student-teacher ratio in schools with a more than 50 percent population of low-income pupils is 18-to-1, and 20-to-1 for schools with 25 percent to 50 percent of the children from low-income families.
The Roanoke School Board now wants the disparity funds to be provided for the fourth and fifth grades.
Kelley said that almost half the children enrolled in city schools are eligible for free lunches and have many academic and social needs that must be served by the school division.
The request for more disparity money is included in the board's legislative requests for the General Assembly's next session, which begins in January.
The board also will ask the Legislature to provide state funds to help raise state and city teachers' salaries to the national average by 1998-99. Virginia's average salary, $33,010, is about $2,800 less than the national figure. The city's average is $33,744.
Meeting the goal would require that state funding for salaries increase by 2.5 percent a year for each of the next three years, Kelley said, in addition to the increases during the past two years.
The board also will urge the Legislature to fund the state's share of the cost for the educational standards of quality. The per-pupil cost of the standards is $4,432.
The state provides $1,438, 32 percent of the cost. State sales tax totals $608 per student, 14 percent. And the city provides $2,386, almost 54 percent.
"The state needs to do its share," Kelley said.
The General Assembly also will be asked to provide state funds to pay for at least one school nurse for every 1,000 children. The nursing services should be targeted to disadvantaged children, he said.
Roanoke already has school nurses, but state funds would enable it to expand its services, Kelley said.
The board approved its legislative package earlier than usual this year because of the General Assembly elections in November.
Chairman Nelson Harris urged board members to take up the school legislative issues with the candidates for the Senate and House of Delegates, rather than waiting until after the election.
Roanoke also will ask the legislature to pay a larger share of the cost of the alternative education program for troubled youngsters. The state pays only 7 percent of the expense for alternative education.
On nonfunding issues, the board reaffirmed its opposition to charter schools and vouchers.
Kelley said charter schools would serve a limited student population that is not representative of the school system. Vouchers significantly would reduce state funds for the school division without a decline in the per-pupil cost, he said.
The board also opposes any proposal for transporting private school students on public school buses. A bill was defeated during the last session that would have required public school systems to transport private students.
The school system will urge the Legislature to reject any changes in the elementary guidance program that would restrict counselors or place an administrative burden on schools. It opposes a proposal that would require parents to "opt in" to elementary guidance rather than the current regulation that allows parents to "opt out" of guidance services.
The board also will renew its request that the General Assembly allow city schools to open before Labor Day.
by CNB