ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 22, 1996 TAG: 9612230008
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
If Roanoke's 1997-98 school budget could be funded with a dime, here's how it would break down: 8 cents for salaries and fringe benefits, and 2 cents for everything else.
It's a people budget, consisting mainly of money for the school system's 1,814 employees, including more than 1,000 teachers.
Eighty-one percent of the $87.5 million budget - approximately $68 million - will be earmarked for personnel, even if no pay increases are given. But Superintendent Wayne Harris has recommended raises that would increase the cost for salaries and fringe benefits to $70.5 million - 82 percent of the budget.
Harris has made employee salaries one of his priorities since becoming superintendent.
Roanoke is in the middle of a three-year plan to raise teachers' salaries to the national average by 1998-99.
Teacher pay was increased by an average of 7 percent this year, and Harris has recommended an average raise of 4.1 percent next year.
The average teacher salary in Roanoke is projected at $41,377 next year and $43,281 in the 1998-99 school year.
Harris also has recommended pay increases for school administrators, principals, secretaries and nonprofessional employees next year.
Salary and fringe benefit costs have risen sharply in recent years. The school system has added 149 teaching positions during the past five years because of the reduction in class sizes, an expanded preschool program and growth in enrollment.
Classes in the early elementary grades were reduced to 15 pupils this school year because of state incentive funding.
The city now has 1,008 teachers, up from 859 in 1992.
Student enrollment, which has increased by 540 since 1990, is 13,215. Harris said he expects enrollment to keep increasing by an average of 85 a year and to reach 13,555 by 2000.
The increase can be attributed to a slight rise in the birth rate and a decline in the number of students moving to nearby localities, he said.
Nearly half of the money for salaries and raises for teachers and other school employees - 47.1 percent - comes from city taxpayers.
Harris said the state provides 37.1 percent of the revenue for the budget and state sales taxes account for nearly 10 percent. Federal funds and other sources, including school food service, provide the remainder.
The percentage of money from each source hasn't changed significantly over the past six years, Harris said.
State aid for schools is based on the cost of meeting minimum state standards on class size, curriculum, guidance services and other educational programs.
But most school divisions have more teachers and programs than the state requires and pay the additional cost themselves.
Harris said 74 percent of Roanoke's school budget is earmarked for personnel and programs to meet the state standards.
The other 26 percent - about $22 million - is spent on programs and services that exceed the state minimums. These include:
*Full-day kindergarten in 20 elementary schools, with 36 more teachers than required. The state mandates only a half-day kindergarten.
*Smaller classes, with an average of 17.6 students in middle school and 18.5 in the high school, compared with the state's standard of 25. The city has 100 more teachers than required.
*The number of elementary principals, elementary and secondary assistant principals and clerks is 27 higher than mandated.
*Nine guidance counselors and four librarians in excess of state requirements.
*The Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy for middle and high school students in alternative education, Villa Heights Special Education Center, and the Maternal and Infant Care Center.
*Programs for gifted students, such as CITY School, Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology and PLATO in elementary schools.
Roanoke will spend $6,394 per pupil next year to maintain the current level of services. If the School Board approves Harris' recommended pay increases, the per-pupil cost will be higher, depending on the size of the raises.
The city's per-pupil spending is nearly 10 percent higher than the state average.
Nearly 75 percent of the budget is earmarked for classroom instruction, including the salaries of teachers. This includes regular classroom instruction in addition to special education, guidance, gifted and talented programs and other academic services.
Almost 11 percent of the budget is spent on operations and the maintenance of school facilities, including custodial services, insurance, supplies and utilities.
Cafeteria food and workers account for 4.4 percent of the budget, and the transportation system, including the salaries for bus drivers and mechanics, is 3.5 percent.
The administrative costs for the school system make up 2.5 percent of the budget - about 5 percent below the state average for this category, Harris said. This includes the salaries and fringe benefits for Harris, seven administrators, 17 clerical positions and other administrative expenses.
The budget, up 5.8 percent, contains several proposals that are designed to help students improve their test scores and meet the state's new academic standards in English, math, science and social students.
Harris has recommended that planning time be provided for teachers at 50 percent of the city's elementary schools, up from 20 percent during the current year, through the use of teaching assistants. This will cost $175,800.
Elementary teachers at these schools will have 30 minutes a day to prepare lesson plans and other instructional activities for improving student academic achievement. Middle and high school teachers already have planning time.
To help improve student performance, Harris has also proposed that the school system spend $215,000 on workshops and internships for teachers to upgrade their instructional skills and better prepare them for the state's new academic standards.
A recent national study showed that many teachers receive inadequate college preparation for teaching skills that are required in the classroom.
Harris said the schools need to fund the training program to not only improve teachers' mastery of subject material for the new state standards, but also upgrade teaching strategies.
The budget also contains $88,400 to help purchase math, science and social studies textbooks for the state's new academic standards. The schools also will use $326,300 in year-end surplus funds to buy new textbooks.
City residents will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed budget at public meetings at William Fleming High on Jan. 21 and Patrick Henry High on Jan.23.
Harris will discuss the budget Jan. 22 and 29 on the city's cable television channel. The School Board will have a public hearing on the budget Feb. 11 at Huff Lane Micro Village School.
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