Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 26, 1995 TAG: 9509260063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For starters, it's a myth that schools on the eastern side of the county have been getting more funds per pupil than other schools, according to School Board Chairman Ben Shrader.
"All funds are distributed to schools based on an equal per-pupil allotment," Shrader wrote in a letter sent Monday to the parents' group Citizens Who Care. "This has been the case since 1982. I can find no evidence to support any claim to the contrary."
However, the student population in eastern Bedford County has grown by almost 80 percent in the past 10 years, forcing more construction and renovation of schools, he added.
Citizens Who Care, founded by Don and Susan Gardner of Huddleston, had asked the board to explain what some parents saw as inequities in spending and mismanagement of funds in county schools.
Among the group's concerns is a report by the Virginia Education Association that ranked Bedford County's joint city-county school system the lowest among the state's 134 localities in per-pupil spending on instruction.
According to school Superintendent John Kent, the report is wrong. Because the wrong information was sent to the VEA by a school staffer, the figures didn't include $3.5 million in revenue that the city of Bedford contributes to the school system.
The school system actually should be ranked 45th, Kent said.
Spending is a major concern of the parents, who say some classrooms have only a single set of textbooks, meaning their children don't have books to bring home at night.
"Staunton River High School has a math class called math analysis," said Susan Epperly, a member of Citizens Who Care. "There is no textbook. It's hard to do applied math without a textbook."
Susan Gardner said, "My son Sam said he doesn't have English homework because he can't take the books home."
In the case of the math analysis class, the books are on back order and should be available this week, a school official said. But in other classes, there's a bigger problem.
The School Board receives quarterly budget appropriations from the Board of Supervisors, which, in turn, makes quarterly appropriations to each school.
"We're probably one of the few school systems that makes direct allocations to schools," Kent said. The schools, therefore, decide how to spend the money - and some may not consider textbooks as important as other teaching aids.
"There's two philosophies," Kent said. "Is the textbook a curriculum or a resource?''
Because of the parents' concerns, the School Board probably will discuss taking away the individual schools' discretionary spending for textbooks next year, Kent said. Instead, the School Board may order textbooks for all students in all classes.
But that could mean a bigger burden on county taxpayers, Shrader said, because textbooks are paid for out of local - not state or federal - funds.
Either way, Citizens Who Care isn't totally satisfied with the board's responses and believes there are inequities that aren't being addressed.
"Every student in this county is being shortchanged," Susan Gardner said. "It's very difficult to get the truth out of this School Board administration."
by CNB