THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140396
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
To ensure students won't have to pay for the district's fiscal mismanagement, the City Council said Tuesday it would make up half the school system's projected 1995-96 deficit.
The School Board warned last week that without the council's help, it would have to offset a projected $4.4 shortfall this school year by cutting after-school programs and requiring employees to take time off without pay.
The council said it could not blame the district for federal cutbacks and lower-than-projected sales tax revenue, and so would try to find $2.3 million from its own budget to bail out the district.
The rest of the shortage is the fault of school district mismanagement, the council said, and should not be the responsibility of the taxpayers.
``We will be looking to try and fund the $2.3 million that appears to not be the fault of ineptness,'' Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said. The council directed the city manager to find the money without risking the city's financial stability.
City Manager James K. Spore said he would report back quickly, but warned that the council might be facing more fiscal problems in the next month, when the district presents its operating budget for next year.
Last year, the council agreed to fill a $12.1 million school spending gap caused by budgeting mistakes and lax fiscal controls. District officials say they fixed the problems that created the shortfall, but not before this year's budget was completed and the groundwork for another $10 million deficit was laid.
Associate Superintendent Donald A. Peccia told the council that because of reduced spending since the beginning of the school year, he had sliced that potential deficit to $4.4 million. And that number could go down, Peccia said, if the federal and state government come through with additional funds.
Peccia said the School Board directed him to draw up a list of potential cuts that could be used to close the spending gap in case those additional funds are not provided.
The council praised Peccia for his forthrightness and efforts to clean-up the financial mess. But council members criticized the School Board for putting sports and other student activities on the list instead of items that could more reasonably be eliminated.
``It appears to me the list was put together to evoke emotion out of the community and put the council under pressure,'' said council member Louis R. Jones, who recommended funding only half the deficit.
The council members have been flooded with phone calls since last week, mostly from high school athletes and their parents, many of whom filled the council chambers Tuesday in silent protest against the possibility of cutting spring sports.
School Board member Tim Jackson, who attended the two-hour briefing, said he saw the council's decision as evidence that relations between the board and council are starting to thaw.
The two bodies have sparred over the last few months: the council lashing out because it could not bring the district's problems under control; and the School Board accusing the council of overstepping its bounds.
Although the council provides 41 percent of the district's funding, after turning the money over to the school system, the council has no control over how it is spent.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS BUDGET VIRGINIA BEACH
SCHOOL BOARD by CNB