THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040215
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 75 lines
More students require more teachers, more books, more buses, more everything.
Throw in raises for school employees and a new daytime alternative program for disruptive students, and that pretty much accounts for a 12.6 percent increase proposed for the city's public-schools operating budget next year.
The requested $63.9 million budget that school officials released Monday seeks an additional $3 million in funding from city taxpayers. That's up 20.6 percent from the current year, to $17.6 million coming from the general city budget.
The rest would come from state and federal coffers and revenue, such as summer-school tuition, generated by the school system.
The budget must be approved by the School Board and the City Council.
An expected third straight year of enrollment growth - 5 to 7 percent for a projected student population of more than 11,000 students by September - is the main factor behind the increased numbers, Schools Superintendent Joyce H. Trump and Finance Director Michael K. Brinkley said Monday.
``There isn't any wiggle room,''Trump said, holding up the proposed budget. ``You just have to take your choice of what you want to leave out of here.''
Trump is asking for $1.8 million for 78.5 more employees, mostly teachers but also an additional printing room worker and a plumber - more students also mean more photocopies to make and more pipes to clear.
Her budget also seeks 12.5 positions for a new alternative school which, if funded, will open in leased space not yet acquired. Parents and School Board members - particularly member Frances L. Alwood, a retired guidance counselor - have been lobbying for such a facility, to separate but still educate students who can't get along in a regular school environment. The program is budgeted at $772,200.
``If we had the money to do it - yes, we would find a place,'' Trump said. ``We would do it.''
The budget also calls for leaving open Florence Bowser Elementary School - which this school year is housing Oakland Elementary while Oakland's building is being renovated - to house kindergartners overflowing from other schools. That would make Bowser, originally scheduled to be closed or converted to the alternative school, the city's 16th school and 11th elementary school. Teachers would come from other crowded schools, but other costs would total $394,300.
The budget includes an average 4 percent raise for the school system's 1,400 employees, including bumping everyone up a step on the salary scale and a 2.25 percent increase in each step on the scale. If approved, the raises would range from 2.25 to 4.95 percent.
Starting teachers in Suffolk make less - $25,692 - than any other in Hampton Roads; the maximum pay here - $39,725 - is lower than everyone's except those in Portsmouth.
Items that Trump left off her budget in its final form included more than $300,000 for new textbooks and $50,000 in science supplies for elementary and middle school students. Maintenance money also was kept lower than she would have liked, Trump said.
The public gets to air its views of the school budget Thursday, Feb. 13, at 5:30 p.m., before the regular School Board meeting. The board will vote on the budget at a special meeting March 20. The City Council is scheduled to vote on including the school budget in its budget May 7.
Copies of the proposed budget were distributed Monday to School Board and City Council members, and are available at the city's public library branches and schools. ILLUSTRATION: Why the School Board is asking for an increase:
An expected third straight year of enrollment growth - 5 to 7
percent, for a projected student population of more than 11,000 - is
the main factor behind the numbers, officials say.
What the proposed budget would include:
$1.8 million for 78.5 more employees, mostly teachers. 12.5
positions for a new alternative school. Leaving open Florence Bowser
Elementary School. An average 4 percent raise for the school
system's 1,400 employees.
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK CITY COUNCIL BUDGET SUFFOLK SCHOOL BOARD