DATE: Thursday, May 8, 1997                 TAG: 9705080361

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   71 lines

BEACH SCHOOLS LOOK FOR FAT IN BUDGET

With the City Council signaling that a real estate tax increase for education is unlikely, school officials must figure out a way to close the budget gap between what they say they need and what municipal leaders say they can afford.

In an unofficial vote Tuesday, a majority of the City Council members said they would not support a tax increase. The council will vote on the 1997-98 city budget, which includes funding for the schools, May 13.

The School Board's next scheduled meeting is May 20. At that time, school leaders will have to consider what stays and what goes in an effort to reconcile expectations with reality.

School Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney said Wednesday that the board will be asked ``what to cut and how deep'' and that he will offer recommendations.

``At this stage of the game, I don't think we can rule out anything,'' Jenney said.

School administrators are considering possible places to trim the 1997-98 budget in their departments, a process they have gone through repeatedly in recent years as the schools struggled through tight financial times.

The school system is expected to end this fiscal year with a surplus of at least $12 million. Some of that surplus could be plowed into next year's budget for one-time, non-recurring costs.

At various points in the budget process, the schools and the city have been separated by as much as $13 million and as little as $4.2 million. According to Jenney, the board could end up cutting more than the $4.2 million.

City officials have said the $4.2 million could be trimmed without affecting the classroom. But Jenney said he saw no prudent way to cut the additional money without affecting some of the programs that the School Board added in next year's budget, such as class-size reductions and expansion of magnet programs.

``To mortgage the future (to win) political peace for one year, I think, wouldn't be wise,'' he said.

For the first time, the school budget for the coming year was based on a formula that provided education with a set percentage of some city revenue streams. Under that formula, the division would receive an additional $13 million for 1997-98.

However, with the opening of two new schools, raises, the desire to expand certain programs and other issues, the school budget called for $13 million more. The city has offered an additional $1.2 million toward closing the gap.

Under the revenue-sharing policy, the School Board must ask the City Council to raise taxes if additional money is needed. But in two meetings, a divided School Board has refused to do so.

A group of vocal residents has lobbied for full funding of the $422 million school budget, with many saying a tax increase isn't needed if the city will shift its finances around.

Maria Zammit Graham, a parent and member of the Coalition to Advance Resources for Education, said she does not believe the schools should have carte blanche, but that a tax increase for education wouldn't be needed if the city changed its priorities.

The coalition is a grass-roots organization made up of parents from several North End and Great Neck schools, Graham said.

``(The schools) should get funding and then let the voters decide other issues,'' she said.

E. Dean Block, director of the city's Department of Management Services, said that projects that have been questioned, such as a golf course and a portion of the beach restoration at Sandbridge, are funded with money that is dedicated to specific uses.

``Citizens need to understand that one-time funding for capital projects cannot be used for day-to-day operations,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Virginia Beach School Superintendent Timothy Jenney says, ``At this

stage of the game, I don't think we can rule out anything.''

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