DATE: Wednesday, June 4, 1997               TAG: 9706040475

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH 

        STAFF WRITER    

DATELINE: NAGS HEAD                         LENGTH:  105 lines

NEW CHAIRMAN PLANS HARD LOOK AT BUDGET FINANCES HAVE BEEN TIGHT, BUT HE DOESN'T WANT TO CUT BENEFITS.

Finances have been Dare County School officials will be taking a hard look at finances in the coming weeks, but the new chairman of the Board of Education said Tuesday he's against cutting teachers' benefits to save money.

``Understanding the cost of living in Dare County, and the quality of our faculty, and the fact that most of our teachers have second jobs to make ends meet,'' Fletcher Willey said in an interview, ``it would be my position that while cuts are necessary, that employee benefits such as dental would be at the bottom of the list . . . the last thing I'd want to cut.''

Willey was elected by a 4-3 vote Monday to replace Donna Buxton as chairman of the board. In one of his first acts, Willey asked Superintendent Leon Holleman to provide the board with a complete review of the district's financial health. Holleman is scheduled to appear before the Dare County Board of Commissioners June 16 to discuss school finances.

Willey acknowledged Tuesday that there have been cost overruns in certain departments. In the final months of the 1996-97 school year, tight finances prompted a freeze in school field trips and supply purchases and the removal of cellular phones from school buses.

``We were at the end of a two-year budget,'' Willey said. `` Like in any business, you have to make decisions as to what's essential, and make sure that the essentials are there. For instance, the cellular phones are nice to have, but they are not absolutely essential, except in the long runs to Stumpy Point and Corolla.''

Willey said other unexpected expenses will be detailed in the superintendent's report. But in one instance, the system was forced to renegotiate its contract to purchase fuel, and the cost jumped from 50 cents a gallon to 78 cents per gallon.

``There was no way we could have known two years ago that would occur,'' Willey said.

And, Willey said, the system incurred sizable legal expenses in its eminent domain action over land for athletic fields and playgrounds at Cape Hatteras School.

Holleman will also review personnel at the system's central office for possible layoffs, as part of a broad-based restructuring plan for finances, personnel and the board.

``This year, we had budget overruns,'' Willey said. ``It is our belief that we can do a better job of identifying and allocating funds in such a way that monies are encumbered. If you knew you had a house payment at the end of this month, you'd make sure you had enough money to pay it. We will do a better job of that.''

Asked about specific areas of overspending, Willey said those would be disclosed at the meeting with the board of commissioners.

``I would be getting ahead of the process if I did that,'' he said.

``On June 16, we will have a detailed list of the overruns. We will indicate which overruns were one-time events, and which ones will be recurring. I don't think you'll ever see another 50-cent gas contract.''

But for Willey, 50, a Nags Head insurance executive who lives in Manteo, the biggest challenge may be rebuilding consensus at the board and community level for a new plan for future school facilities.

He has appointed Vice Chairman Virginia Tillett to explore ways to heal wounds caused by the deeply divisive bond issue. Willey has advocated a ``people plan'' for facilities needs.

``Board members placed a lot of credibility in consultants and studies and experts and referred to studies that dated back to 1987-88,'' Willey said.

``We learned from the referendum that the people expected a greater voice than the consultants and so-called experts.

``As to some of the requests . . . that the whole board resign or that individual members do so, I think the entire board put forward the past bond in good conscience, thinking that we were doing the right thing. We were told by the people it was not the right thing. We have to commit ourselves to work harder to do the right thing. We have an obligation to do better than we did last time.''

Willey took issue with claims of some that he bailed out on the bond proposal. ``The oath of office that we took when we were elected requires us to do what's best for the children,'' Willey said. ``To go forward with a facilities plan, we've got to have a facilities plan that the public is willing to pay for.

``I have in no way turned my back on facilities expansion. I have made a conscious choice to try to help bring together a coalition of people that will build the kind of facilities that the parents want to pay for and the children deserve to go to.''

He also dismissed charges that the move to reorganize the board's leadership was a grab for political power.

``As to political gain, I hope that people will realize that the decisions we're making are education-based decisions,'' he said. ``If we were making political decisions, we would be doing something completely different than what we're doing right now.''

Some have charged that the board's reshuffling was prompted by outside forces.

``There was no outside influence, other than conversations with individual constituents, as to how we might move the process forward and heal the wounds that exist,'' Willey said.

Among those wounds are a deeply divided board. Willey, however, was optimistic. ``Because we all have the same goals and the same desires for our children, I think the differences are in how we do what we're trying to do,'' he said. ``I think that once we focus on our common goals, that we'll find we have a lot more in common than it appears at this time.''

No timetable has been set for a new referendum, Willey said. And while he supports the concept of a beach high school, the makeup of the next bond will be left to the community.

``It will be for a larger group of people - the citizens who will design the next bond issue - to decide what the proportions and the building blocks will be in this people's plan, `` Willey said. ``I don't know how long it will take us to pull together the coalition of people that's necessary before we go forward.''

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