THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220177
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 36 lines
The School Board approved Tuesday the administration's plan to cut $13 million from the 1996-97 budget, bringing it to $387.3 million.
The School Board initially approved a $401 million budget - an unprecedented increase of more than $40 million above the current year's spending plan.
School officials have said the bulk of the increase covered programs and positions not properly funded in other recent budgets - a problem which led to serious financial difficulties in the state's second-largest school system.
While the city agreed to increase its share of the school division's funding by more than $20 million, a figure city officials said would require a 3.2 cent tax rate increase, the system still was faced with almost $14 million to trim.
To reach the magic number of $387.3 million, the administration recommended and the board approved:
Reducing a raise of up to 5 percent for employees to 4.5 percent - a 1.5 percent increase for all employees and a 3 percent step increase for those eligible. The start of that raise was delayed until Dec. 1. Those changes saved more than $6.1 million.
Cutting almost $1.7 million suggested by budget managers, including staff training, some supplies, copying services and other areas.
Shifting the cost of leasing Celebration Station, which houses students displaced by the Princess Anne High School fire, into the Capital Improvement Program at a savings of more than $960,000 for the operating budget.
Reducing the pay for substitute teacher from $50 to $48 per day, a rate that still leaves the Beach schools leading the area in substitute pay but saves the division $200,000.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BUDGET by CNB