THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120533
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 56 lines
To allow more time for negotiations with the School Board, the City Council agreed Tuesday to a two-week delay before voting on a new school funding plan.
But the council also said it was unwilling to wait another year to approve the proposal, regardless of the district's concerns.
The council deferred formal approval of the revenue-sharing plan, which would give the district a set percentage of projected city tax revenue every year. And the council approved a resolution saying it wanted the school district to base its 1997-98 budget on the number that pops out of that proposed funding formula.
According to the plan, the school district would receive nearly $215 million from the city for its next budget year - compared with $202.1 million this year. The district does not have its own taxing authority and so is dependent on money it gets from the city, state and federal governments.
School officials have said that the formula would not provide enough money to maintain a top-quality system and that it would unfairly distribute city tax dollars.
City leaders have argued that the formula would require the district to be more accountable for the money it spends and simplify its annual budgeting process.
The council and School Board leadership closed in on a compromise late last week, but agreed that they needed two more weeks to complete a deal.
Under the proposed formula, the district would receive 53.13 percent of the city's six largest sources of predicted tax revenue - the same percentage it got this year. As those revenues increase, so would the amount dedicated to the schools.
What hasn't been decided is what to do with any budget surpluses - the difference between what the city projects it will receive and how much it actually gets.
School Board members and some city officials believe the district should get 53.13 percent of surplus money, too. Other city council members said Tuesday that they are unwilling to commit city surpluses to the district.
Council member Louis R. Jones said promising half of any surplus takes away the district's incentive to live within its means and also deprives the city of the benefit of money it saves through good fiscal management.
Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said she favors sharing the surplus as part of a compromise that will enable the school district to live with the funding formula.
School Board chairman Robert F. Hagans said he's concerned that the council's actions Tuesday might jeopardize the compromise city and school officials had been working toward.
``I'm somewhat surprised that they took the action they did,'' he said, ``and I sincerely hope we will work this out and avoid protracted public disagreement.''
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD
VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL FUNDING REVENUE SHARING