THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501060195
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
School officials on Tuesday unveiled their first draft of an extensive but expensive building improvement plan.
The plan, which over the next six years would cost from $278 million for the economy model to $486 million for the fully loaded version, would pay to abate air quality problems in eight city schools, relieve crowding and bolster technology.
School officials also are considering ways to pay for the plan, including asking voters to approve a bond sale ranging from $113.8 million to $208.2 million.
But the plan, which eventually must be approved by the City Council, comes at a time when city officials are worried about the Beach's economic future. The Lake Gaston water pipeline, a key to the city's future growth, is bogged down in a legal mire. The fate of Oceana Naval Air Station is uncertain, as the federal Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission prepares to recommend further base shutdowns.
State officials also have put the squeeze on localities, particularly with proposals from Gov. George Allen to cut local tax revenues and decrease money for schools and jails.
Still, city schools are grappling with problems that will require more money to fix.
Parents and teachers are outraged by poor air quality in eight schools, caused by faulty ventilation systems. Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette has estimated it will cost from $15 million to $50 million to correct the systems.
Faucette has proposed $30 million spread over six years in the capital improvement plan.
City schools also remain crowded, some severely.
Of the city's 52 elementary schools, 23 exceed capacity by more than 10 percent. Six of the 13 middle schools and five of the 10 high schools are more than 10 percent overpopulated.
The School Board is considering a variety of measures to deal with crowding without spending money, including postponing the elimination of portable classrooms and shifting some attendance zones to pull kids out of crowded schools and put them into schools with more room.
The board voted Tuesday night to consider revising the First Colonial High School boundary. The move would shift some Croatan or Shadowlawn students from crowded First Colonial into the roomier new Ocean Lakes High, and would eliminate the need for a $2.3 million 16-classroom addition to First Colonial, scheduled for 1996. But the proposal is likely to raise the ire of students and parents. A similar plan died after parents protested in late 1993.
Still, even with new attendance zones and a renewed reliance on portable classrooms, the school system will have to spend money to renovate and add onto older schools and to build new ones.
The proposed building plan includes about $100.6 million for five new schools, two elementaries, two middle schools and one high school. The plan also includes $18.7 million for replacement schools for Linkhorn Park and Seatack elementaries, which city and school officials have agreed must be moved because they are in the crash or high noise zones for Oceana and could jeopardize Oceana's chances in base closure negotiations.
Faucette and School Board members also are desperate to increase the use of technology in schools. They fear Beach students, without exposure to computers and the newest software, will graduate at a disadvantage, compared with students from better-equipped school systems.
Faucette's staff has proposed spending a minimum of $90.2 million to wire all schools and equip them with technology, such as computers and printers. That figure, however, would not include renovating old schools and adding enough space to accommodate the new technology. To accomplish that would require nearly $184.6 million.
School Board members face several major challenges as they contemplate the building plan:
Board members are considering whether to ask the City Council and voters to approve the sale of bonds to pay for at least part of the building plan, particularly the technology.
Board members now must debate what projects would be included in such a referendum vote.
School planners proposed including miscellaneous projects such as $1.2 million for new playground equipment for elementary schools and $259,000 for tennis court renovations at some schools. Planner Kenneth B. Lumpkin said he thought including such popular items might make voters more agreeable.
But some board members said they were uncomfortable asking voters to approve anything but money related to boosting technology in schools.
Board members will need specifics when they face the City Council to ask for approval of their six-year building plan.
A proposal for a $194 million bond sale to bolster technology and to bring older schools up to par with newer ones failed last year in part because school officials did not provide City Council members with enough specifics about what the money would buy.
Superintendent Faucette directed his staff to provide the board with more specifics on Jan. 17 about how planners arrived at their price tags for technology and other projects.
A sticking point between city and school officials could be the price school planners budgeted for future construction projects. School officials estimated a 4 percent inflation rate for construction costs, while city officials recommended 3 percent.
The difference could be substantial. One percentage point on the price of a new $31.4 million high school scheduled to be built in 1999, for example, amounts to about $314,500.
Faucette asked his staff to conduct a more detailed analysis of the construction market, which will be shared with city officials. by CNB