THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502240177
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
After almost two years of debate, the School Board on Tuesday night agreed to ask voters for permission to take on $106.6 million in debt. The money, generated from the sale of bonds, would pay for new technology for schools citywide.
City Council must approve the plan for a referendum vote, which the School Board wants to put on the May 1996 ballot. Board members had hoped to seek a vote sooner.
But Anne Meek, assistant superintendent for operational support services, said the citizens might be more willing to taking on the debt later.
``We had hoped that the Oceana situation . . . would be resolved, and the situation with the Lake Gaston pipeline would be resolved,'' she said.
The fate of Oceana Naval Air Station rests with the federal Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission this year. The city also is embroiled in a decadelong legal battle to withdraw water from Lake Gaston on the Virginia-North Carolina border. Both issues have made the city's economic outlook unclear.
School Board member D. Linn Felt said he remained concerned about the delay.
``We keep putting it off and putting it off,'' he said. ``It's going to be the end of the century before we get what we need.''
The plan includes $25 million to buy 8,345 classroom computers. The goal is one computer for every eight students in elementary and middle schools, and one computer for every six high school students. The plan also provides $3.3 million for installing computer labs in the 47 elementary schools that currently don't have them.
All high schools would get multipurpose labs, plus special labs for computer science, drafting, writing and business classes.
All schools would get homework hotlines - automated phone lines that parents and students can call to get assignments from their teachers.
Teachers would get their own computers - 626 in all at a cost of close to $1.9 million. The goal is one computer for every eight teachers. Special computers for teacher publishing projects would be provided - one for every 20 teachers - at a cost of $3.4 million.
The plan also includes new technology for administrators and school libraries, as well as software for all computers purchased.
The plan shows specifically what each school in the city will get if voters approve the bond sale. A proposal last year to ask voters for permission to issue $194 million in bonds never passed the City Council because some council members said the plan lacked specifics.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB