ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 13, 1996 TAG: 9606130025
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
The Montgomery County School Board will have to go back to the proverbial drawing board and come up with another way to balance its budget for the upcoming school year.
Monday night, the Board of Supervisors returned the proposed budget, instructing the School Board to cut $77,000 from the already tight budget.
That amount is a little more than half of the debt service, or interest, the School Board is required to pay this year. It must pay a total of $143,000 on the first loan to construct the planned elementary school in Riner.
Last month, the School Board agreed to omit the $77,000 from the budget, then requested a supplemental allocation from the Board of Supervisors to pay for the rest of the debt service.
The School Board controls the school systems' budget, but the Board of Supervisors controls the local tax rates that pay for school spending in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Because the Board of Supervisors allocated just $70,000 in new county revenue, School Board members reasoned, they could only afford to pay that much in debt service without taking away from instruction or other areas.
Supervisor Nick Rush said he was "leery of a School Board that's going to arbitrarily take money out of debt service" to pay for other things.
Rush said he didn't understand the message sent by School Board members, particularly after they pushed for a new school in Riner.
"I don't think there's any hidden signal or message," said Superintendent Herman Bartlett. "I don't think it was intended for any malice at all."
Rush, with a wide smile on his face, said, "Oh, OK."
Tuesday night, Chairwoman Annette Perkins told the School Board about the decision, which she characterized as something of a mixed blessing. At least, she explained, the supervisors said the School Board can decide where to make the cuts.
School Board member Bernie Jortner wasn't grateful.
"By building a new school we are undertaking a new program which will cost more," he said. "And as it stands now, we'll have to take that $77,000 from other aspects of the current program and therefore diminish" those programs.
The School Board will discuss other options at a meeting Tuesday.
The School Board also voted 7-2 Tuesday to approve a teacher pay scale that gives a 4 percent raise to most teachers. Beginning teachers and those with more than 25 years of experience will receive about half of that pay raise.
The Montgomery County Education Association, along with school administrators, developed the pay increases to begin leveling out a scale that has frustrated some teachers.
In past years, MCEA members contend, the pay increments have fluctuated greatly depending on the amount of money administrators had to work with.
That, said Vice Chairman Barry Worth, has hurt the majority of teachers who have from five to 25 years of experience. Those teachers, he said, told him the scale adjustments were a necessary evil - to last for the next two or three years - that would eventually make the pay scale equal for all.
"They told me, 'I'm always told that next year, I'll get the big increase. But every year I'm bumped down a step or skipped over,'" he said.
Board member Jim Klagge didn't feel comfortable with that kind of sacrifice.
"I understand the concern to flatten the salary scale, but the idea of chasing an even scale at the expense of beginning teachers is a bad idea," Klagge said.
Klagge and Roy Vickers voted against the scale.
The School Board began its yearly evaluation of the superintendent Tuesday night by spending almost three hours behind closed doors.
Bartlett's contract will expire in June 1997. The School Board can vote to extend his contract, as it did in 1994. Or, the board can take no action, and therefore give Bartlett a year to find another position.
The School Board will meet behind closed doors again to discuss the matter at the Tuesday meeting.
Staff writer Kathy Loan contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 75 linesby CNB