THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603220251
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY JERRY GIBBS
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
There has been so much said and written about the present state of affairs with the public school system and the School Board that I believe that there is total confusion. To exacerbate the situation, we will be having School Board elections in less than two months. Please allow me to throw in my two cents.
First of all, Virginia Beach has always had, until the last three years, a frugal, financially responsible school system. I think that a valid case could be made that, if anything, the schools have been consistently underfunded. Take a couple of examples. Per pupil costs in Virginia Beach run about $700 below the state average. This does not sound like much until one realizes that it would take about $50 million (that's right) to reach the state average, all of which would come from local funds. Several years ago, 42 school divisions sued the state because they were so poor that their per pupil expenditures were below the state average. Virginia Beach had a lower per pupil expenditure than 37 of the suing school divisions. Perhaps we should have joined the suit.
Then there is the matter of school construction. There is something called charter bonds, which means that the city can borrow money without going to the people for permission. The revenue stream to support these bonds already exists. That means that no tax increases are needed to fund the almost $40 million each year for construction funded by charter bonds. The proceeds from the bonds can be used for school construction or other construction. In Virginia Beach, they are primarily used for other than school construction, which is the opposite of the practice of the remainder of the state. This allows the city administration to posture that if you want more schools, you must have a tax increase. There is a continuing problem with school funding in Virginia Beach which sometimes leads to temptations to cut corners and bend the rules to meet necessary educational objectives. This is no excuse for what happened, but it did contribute.
The special grand jury and the auditors did a good job of determining the WHAT for the problem. They did a less than complete job of determining the WHY and the WHO. Over the last three years, the superintendent negotiated salary increases that were not properly reflected in the budget. I am not questioning whether the teachers deserve more money, but rather, that the costs of the salary increases were misrepresented to the board and not funded in the budget. All of the movement of money from one account to another reflected desperation moves to meet payroll. That is the WHY. The WHO is also important. Dr. Faucette and Mr. Smith have been identified. But what about the large number of second and third tier administrators who knew what was going on and said and did nothing?
Much has been said about the duties and competence of the present School Board. I think that the most damaging thing that could be said about them were their own words. In their letter to the special grand jury they warned future board members that they must be skeptics, must understand finances, and must interrogate the administration for the truth. The logical interpretation of this statement is that they didn't see that as a part of their duties and didn't do it. Case closed.
I am concerned primarily about the upcoming School Board elections. There is a potential for disaster worse than the last election. I note that the Beacon editor in last Sunday's Beacon is backing off from taking an active role. With over 40 candidates, how will the citizens decide who to vote for? I ran two years ago and attended 13 candidate forums. Because of the attendance, we spoke to less than a thousand people total and even then, each candidate was able to speak for about five minutes. The forums had little or no impact on the outcome.
How to let the people make an informed choice? I have a suggestion. Allow each candidate 10 to 15 minutes of free television time on channel 47 and 48. Schedule the time during the evening hours for a week. Publicize it. Repeat it on tape a second week. Let the candidates say whatever they want. Avoid the pompous questioners who try to demonstrate how much they know by their questions, or who try to skew the debate. Have some decent graphics so that people can associate names with faces and words. Invite any candidate who wishes to participate to come down to the studio on North Landing Road and tape the presentation. In my estimation the broadcasts would take five nights of two hours per night.
Good luck to all of us. We will need it. MEMO: Jerry Gibbs served on the Virginia Beach School Board from Jan. 1, 1987,
through Dec. 21, 1992, and ran unsuccessfully for an at-large seat in
May 1994.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB