THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
In an attempt to clean up a financial mess, Virginia Beach school administrators have instituted cutbacks designed to save $5.3 million, not enough to balance this year's books.
Fortunately, most of the belt-tightening has been kept out of the classroom thus far. Mechanical repairs to copiers and computers are being made more slowly than in years past. Staff training has been reduced, and schools' discretionary funds have been cut 15 percent.
To save on substitute teachers, school administrators are each teaching five days per semester. Bravo! Officials should experience teaching in the '90s.
Unfortunately, some of the budget cutbacks are adversely affecting children. Field trips are the exception rather than the rule for Virginia Beach students this year. While some might call a trip to historic Jamestown a frill, it is also extremely educational, especially for children who might never otherwise visit the site of the first permanent English settlement in America.
Discipline suffers, too. Saturday detentions have been halted in several schools. We commend the teachers who are manning the Saturday detentions in their schools - without pay. They are being compensated by time off during nonteaching work hours. These dedicated teachers saw a need and responded, even though it meant sacrificing part of their Saturdays.
That same can-do spirit was overwhelming last year when Princess Anne High School burned. Volunteers from around the city sprang to the aid of the charred school and its students.
Today, metaphorically speaking, all Virginia Beach Schools are burning and the students may be the victims. Teachers are stretched and resources are thin. The Beach system already ranks ninth among the 10 largest school systems in Virginia for per-pupil expenditures.
On Tuesday the School Board looked at another $4.4 million in cuts which would go much deeper than those already in place. After-school child care could be axed, as well as other after-school activities and spring athletics. Schools would close for one week in the summer, saving $1 million in wages.
As a practical matter, this climate of pennypinching presents a unique opportunity for the parents of Virginia Beach public-school children and other city residents to come to the aid of the schools. There are 16,000 parent volunteers in the system. More volunteers are needed now.
Anne Meek, executive assistant to the superintendent, says volunteers can contact their local school office or PTA. Greater community involvement in the schools could be the silver lining to the schools' cloudy financial picture.
We all want the school system on sound fiscal ground. But the children of Virginia Beach ought not to be the ones paying the way. The schools got into this crisis by using limited resources unwisely. After the crisis passes, taxpayers need assurances that budgeting will be done more wisely.
Faced with what looks like about $10 million in deficits, after last year's whopping $12.1 million shortfall, it is high time for the board to consolidate its financial operation with the city's before the Virginia Beach public-school system becomes synonymous with cut-rate education and financial disarray. by CNB