ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040046
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Those spearheading the project to build four new schools in Montgomery County this decade saw some parallels - and some lessons - in the defeat of a Roanoke County school bond referendum Tuesday.
"I think we're doing some things right that I don't think Roanoke [County] did," said Jim Johnson, president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs.
Still, Montgomery Board of Supervisors member Nick Rush feared the issues raised by voters in Roanoke "will pop up here if the School Board doesn't resolve them beforehand."
The Tuesday special election asked Roanoke County residents to support a $37.4 million bond issue. Fifty-seven percent of voters rejected the project.
More than three-fourths of the funding would have gone to build a new high school in the Cave Spring area. Voters from other areas of the county - many of whom complained that too much money was being spent in Cave Spring - rejected the bond by a 4-to-1 ratio.
The Montgomery County School Board hopes to build a new school in each of the four areas of the county. A new elementary school in Riner should begin construction this year; the Board of Supervisors agreed to fund the first part of that project through a Virginia Public School Authority bond sale, which doesn't require voter approval.
Site selection for three other schools - new middle schools in Blacksburg and Christiansburg and a new high school in Shawsville - is under way.
Providing a new facility in each corner of Montgomery may be the key to attracting more voters than Roanoke County did.
The Montgomery School Board, said Vice Chairman Barry Worth, "assessed needs of the whole county rather than just a portion. ... I see ours as a county-wide effort."
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has yet to decide whether those schools will be funded through a bond referendum in the fall, or through more loans.
"There are members who are very leery of approving another school project without taking it to the voters," said Supervisor Jim Moore.
The School Board has been confident that a majority of voters support the need of the four new schools to alleviate overcrowding and keep the ratio between pupils and teachers low.
One major complaint by Roanoke County voters was that the School Board there didn't educate residents early enough about the bond projects.
Henry Jablonski, chairman of the Montgomery Board of Supervisors, said he's seen a lot of good community input and information exchange about the Montgomery school sites.
"We heard a lot from Riner when we were trying to decide the site there. Now, we're getting a lot of reaction to the middle school issue in Blacksburg," Jablonski said. "In the Shawsville area, people have made comments for years about needing more space."
According to a tentative plan developed last year by school and county administrators, the Board of Supervisors has until July or August to order a bond referendum for the Nov. 5 election.
That's plenty of time, said Rush, to develop "the most educationally sound package the boards can put together."
"I'm not concerned about the time," he said. "If you're doing what it takes to make good decisions then it won't be wasted."
Estimates for the new schools - which could vary according to the site selected and the design of the schools - range between $35.5 million and $36.6 million.
Johnson, with the PTAs, said he hasn't heard any opposition about the project from parents and county residents.
"They've recognized that the county has not done anything for years, and it's time that the county is going to have to ante up" and build new schools, he said.
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