THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603200164
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Tidewater Community College's Chesapeake campus will benefit from the unusual bipartisan cooperation that permeated budget negotiations in the General Assembly's recently concluded 1996 session.
Legislators voted to give the college $200,000 in the 1996-97 fiscal year for computers. If the governor approves, TCC will get the money in July.
``That won't quite pay the bill,'' said Timothy H. Kerr, provost of the Chesapeake campus. ``But it will go a long way.''
The legislature's action came after Kerr opened a new $3.4 million wing on his campus late last year, but he did not have enough money to buy computers and software to fully outfit the new building's four computer labs.
The City Council, in its annual wish list to the General Assembly, requested that TCC be given some money.
Sen. Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake, sponsored the TCC budget amendment. Earley said he was able to push the allocation through the legislature in large part because he won a coveted seat on the Senate Finance Committee, a powerful group that helps shape state spending plans. Democrats and Republicans were evenly split in the Senate this year, allowing Republicans who used to be in the minority to assume some important committee assignments.
It wasn't too difficult to convince his colleagues of TCC's need, Earley said; legislators were sympathetic to education this year.
``Not only was it a good year for education, but it was a good year for technology in education,'' Earley said. ``So it (TCC's request) rang both bells, and that helped.''
Earley said the Senate originally approved $275,000 for the school. But that amount got whittled down during final budget talks between the Senate and the House of Delegates. He doesn't expect it to be the last state money the school gets.
``It's not a one-time need,'' Earley said. ``They're going to have, as all the community colleges will have, ongoing needs for technology and equipment.''
Still, Kerr estimates that he needs about $388,000 now to meet all his campus' technology needs.
A committee of faculty members at the Chesapeake campus will meet soon to decide how to best spend the $200,000 in state money.
Meanwhile, Kerr said, he will continue lobbying the Chesapeake City Council to earmark money in the city's 1996-97 budget for TCC.
Kerr said he hopes to get another $200,000 from the city for computers and instructional and administrative equipment.
``It would help us get going,'' he said. ``Because for years, we've had basically no money for instructional equipment or administrative equipment.''
City Manager Clarence V. Cuffee said he included no money for the college in his proposed 1996-97 budget. But council members have asked him to scour the spending plan to see if some money could be found.
Cuffee would offer little speculation on Kerr's prospects of getting a hoped-for $200,000 from city coffers.
``That's a bit ambitious, but I don't know what the council may do,'' Cuffee said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Timothy H. Kerr
TCC provost
by CNB