ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Among the graphs and charts displayed during Montgomery County School Board's public forum on the budget, one image floated ominously on the screen all night.
Like a giant Pac-Man trying to eat what Superintendent Herman Bartlett described as a "little piece of minuscule cheese," the pie chart illustrated the small portion of the county budget increase that is allocated to the schools next year.
The School Board advertised the Tuesday forum as a way to hear comments from the public on how to stretch the $70,169 in additional funds allocated by the Board of Supervisors. Originally, the School Board had requested a $5.8 million spending increase over the current budget year, which ends June 30.
While few people spoke, and even fewer ideas on what to do with the budget arose, just about everyone had something to say about the source of the meager funds.
In the pie chart, Bartlett compared the $70,169 in new funds with an estimated $1 million to $1.5 million, accrued from real estate and personal property taxes and other fees, that potentially could have gone toward schools.
A better comparison, County Finance Director Carol Edmonds said Thursday, is to look at the three-fourths of the county budget taken up by school funding.
But school administrators say while the percentage of the entire budget may stay the same each year, the actual dollars are dwindling.
Bartlett blasted the county Board of Supervisors - which sets tax rates and therefore county budgets - for continuing with what he saw as a trend of reduced funds to the schools, while state money has increased to fill some of the gaps.
"If we continue in this way, the state will have every reason to say, 'Well, we're funding Montgomery County schools, so we should have control of it,'" he said.
Bartlett encouraged the 30 people who attended to take the information to church and to friends and garner support, presumably, of future tax increases to fund schools.
Last month, the Board of Supervisors agreed to a 1-cent increase in the real estate tax rate; the schools will receive about one-third of that.
Parent Ann Rhudy summed up the somber mood when she said, "I just don't understand how the Board of Supervisors could have given so little. I just wish there was something I could do, or we as citizens could do."
Speak out, responded Chairwoman Annette Perkins.
"We simply can't sit back and say this is the way it's always been and this is the way it always will be," Perkins said.
Mary Biggs and Jim Moore, supervisors who in the past have supported school initiatives and funding, attended the meeting.
But the message won't get to the other supervisors, said School Board member Wat Hopkins, "until there's some pain. There are going to be holes this year."
Originally, the School Board asked for a whopping $5.8 million increase to pay for, among other things, a 7 percent increase for all school employees. With the cuts, the board could give a 5 percent increase, but couldn't fund many other initiatives.
The original budget included money for 28 teachers and seven trailer classrooms, additional school buses and a dozen other upgrades and initiatives.
Most of the members said their priority is to fund an increase in teacher salaries, then hire enough teachers to keep pupil-teacher ratios steady.
"What if we used all the money we had and gave 5 percent [pay raise] to the teachers," mused Perkins, "and then we go to the Supervisors in July and ask for emergency supplemental appropriations for new school buses, and then we go back in August to purchase some supplies for science classes ..."
Though Perkins said she was "not being serious," several board members mentioned that seeking emergency funds would make the supervisors - and the public - more aware of school needs.
The School Board will make a final decision on the budget by the middle of the month.
In the end, said member Jim Klagge, this may have been a lesson in county politics.
"In some ways we jeopardize a budget when we ask more than is politically feasible."
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Funding shift. color.by CNB