THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190350
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED AND ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 87 lines
School Board member Nancy D. Guy drew the wrath of the City Council this week for suggesting that an earlier agreement to consolidate city and school financial services be postponed.
Guy, a member of the board's consolidation committee, had penned two resolutions that she introduced at Tuesday's School Board meeting for discussion but which were not voted on.
The first called for rescinding a Feb. 20 board resolution agreeing to develop a consolidation plan for school and city finance, payroll and purchasing services. The resolution would defer further consideration of consolidation of financial services for a year.
The second resolution would commit to combining the school and city print shops, beginning Jan. 1.
The entire School Board still must consider consolidation and may or may not choose to adopt the resolutions introduced Tuesday.
The original consolidation plans grew out of the school division's 1994-95 $12.1 million deficit, which the City Council later was forced to cover. The grand jury report that followed the crisis resulted in the resignation of five School Board members and the prosecution of two others, who were later acquitted of misdemeanor malfeasance charges in Circuit Court.
At an informal meeting Tuesday, City Council members sharply criticized Guy's resolution as a move to undo a series of agreements council members said were needed to ensure accountability in the school system's financial dealings.
But School Board members have taken a more cautious approach to consolidation from the first time the issue was raised. While the previous board agreed to have the superintendent come up with a consolidation plan, board members who knew they would be replaced in their roles within weeks said they would not vote to lock their successors into anything beyond that.
The different paces with which the two groups have approached consolidation have been a source of tension. Some board members feel they're being rushed along like recalcitrant children, and some council members feel the board is trying to back out of a deal. The issue has been part of an ongoing power struggle for the past year.
Guy's resolution would not rule out consolidation of financial services, but would delay it for a year. While Guy said she remains philosophically open to the idea of consolidation, she told fellow board members in a separate meeting Tuesday that data had shown cost savings would be minimal, and that services to the schools would not be enhanced and could be diminished.
And while new budgetary control policies and procedures put in place in 1995-96 ``significantly enhanced'' fiscal accountability, it is unclear that consolidation would improve the situation further.
``This is an effort to make everyone take two or three steps back from an issue that has become very driven by emotion, egos and personalities and - to use total quality management language - to allow for an objective, data-driven decision,'' Guy said at the School Board meeting Tuesday.
She also said the school division and the new board should have a year to restore ``internal pride and external confidence'' in the system's ability to manage its finances.
Board member Tim Jackson, who has served with Guy on the consolidation committee, said the financial problems of 1994-95 were an aberration linked to the division's superintendent at the time. Since then, he said, the division has regained solid financial footing.
``It's very clear we can manage our finances and do it well,'' he said.
But Council members discussing the resolution Tuesday thought consolidation should proceed as planned. Particularly irksome to Vice Mayor William D. Sessoms and Councilman Linwood O. Branch III was Guy's insistence that a decision to consolidate the accounting services be delayed until Oct. 1, 1997, when a year-end accounting of spending under the new School Board is made.
``I really think this was a mistake,'' Sessoms snapped. ``This would not be accomplishing anything. I strongly feel that we should get on with consolidation - I don't think there's anything magical about that date.''
Councilwoman Barbara M. Henley, who had talked with Guy earlier Tuesday, said she came away from the conversation with the impression that Guy and eight other new School Board members want to distance themselves from the 1994-95 board and the financial troubles in which they had become immersed.
``She did voice a feeling that some (School Board) policies put in place in recent months would achieve accountability - and under the responsibility of the School Board,'' said Henley.
``The accountability is right here,'' replied Sessoms, referring to council's role as disperser of all local public funds.
``We don't need any more $12.1 million deficits,'' Councilman John A. Baum chimed in.
``This is a new School Board and a new superintendent, and they feel that they need some breathing space,'' said Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL
CONSOLIDATION by CNB