Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 29, 1990 TAG: 9003280153
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Wright told the School Board last week that adjustments in state school funding formulas during the recent General Assembly session mean the school system can expect to get more state aid than estimated when the budget went to council in January. But he warned the board that the state revenue figures were still tentative.
"These are estimates. These are guesstimates," he said.
Under the revised budget, the School Board plans to ask the city for $3,560,338 as its share of running the school system next year.
The board also unanimously agreed to ask City Council for another $10,000 to replace floors in the Belle Heth Elementary School kitchen and the Radford High School gymnasium.
Declining enrollments played a role in both upward and downward state revenue-funding adjustments.
An enrollment slump, coupled with a drop in Radford's composite index (which is used to determine how much state money a school system gets), will mean that the city's schools can expect $124,025 more in state revenues.
The composite index is calculated using a complex formula that considers a community's per-capita income, retail sales, and real estate valuation, among other things.
However, per-pupil allocations dropped by $43,529 and sales tax revenues earmarked for education were off $8,442 from the January estimate because Radford's enrollments went down even as the number of students statewide rose.
But Wright told the board he has revised the sagging enrollment estimates slightly upward, from 1,388 to 1,393, in part because recent kindergarten registrations were "considerably higher than in the past."
City schools also have attracted more than 80 non-resident tuition students, mostly from Pulaski County, to offset dwindling enrollments.
Radford schools also will not get $29,655 in transit funds next year because the system uses city-owned school buses, not a public transit system, to transport students to and from schools.
In other matters, Guy Gentry, the board's magnet school governing board representative, reported "a lot of sentiment" on the governing board to hold open some classroom seats for Radford students.
The Radford School Board recently voted not to send any students to the magnet school this year, and the magnet school board has said it will not accept private, tuition-paying students.
Radford School Board Chairman John McPhail played down media reports that some Radford parents had asked if they could pay tuition to send their youngsters to the magnet school, set to open this fall on the Pulaski County High School campus near Dublin.
"I'd like to know if this, in fact, has occurred," he said, noting that parents have never been hesitant about coming to the school board with gripes.
"I found that hard to believe myself," said board member Chip Craig.
by CNB