ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
In the shaky lifeboat that is the Montgomery County School Board budget, requests for an increase in employee salaries and some additional teachers may have a secure seat on the raft.
But just about every other cost - from construction on the elementary school in Riner to Head Start to adult education - is at risk of being tossed overboard to lighten the budget load in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Tuesday night, the board discussed how to keep a proposed budget with $5.8 million in planned new programs afloat on the $70,169 in new spending allowed by the Board of Supervisors. The deliberations began last week and board members continued Tuesday to threaten actions sure to anger some supervisors.
In particular, the board added an amendment to a construction time line for the new elementary school in Riner that potentially could halt the project. Vice Chairman Barry Worth was the only member to oppose the amendment, which "makes its acceptance contingent upon funding being available to pay for the debt service."
Included in the new school budget is $147,000 in debt service - or interest - from the first Virginia Public School Authority bond obtained to pay for the new school. The board agreed to pay that debt only if there is enough money in the budget to pay for it.
In other words, if the board agrees to take that money out of the budget to pay for other services, construction - scheduled to begin late this fall - would stop.
Other cuts to the budget could come from any service outside the regular school day, suggested Worth.
That could include Head Start, a program that prepares young children for school; adult education classes, which enables people to go back and get their high school diplomas; or the Saturday art program for talented students.
"If adult education is really important to people ... then somebody will to go the Board of Supervisors," he said. "We've got to look at [kindergarten] through [12th grade] and say this is what we need."
Also, the board agreed to put the Riner Elementary schedule in line with the rest of the county. Beginning this fall, school at Riner will begin at 9:10 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m.
Last year, the board opted to start elementary schools after high schools so that bus routes could be staggered. Parents from Riner successfully pushed for a waiver from the switch.
Tuesday, several parents asked the board to extend that waiver until the new elementary school is complete, saying they liked the earlier schedule and having younger and older students on the same bus.
Chairwoman Annette Perkins and Worth were the only two members to vote for the waiver; Jim Klagge abstained.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB