Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993 TAG: 9305200150
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The budget is slightly over $1 million larger than the supervisors gave the schools for the current year.
But most of the additional money must go toward debt service on a new Blacksburg Elementary School and to fill 21.5 new teaching positions, including 11.5 special education positions, to comply with state standards of educational quality.
The budget could grow by at least another $307,000, but that depends on the School Board returning money to the county from this year's school budget. The supervisors agreed to give any money left over from this year's budget back to the schools.
The School Board's frustration at not being able to offer any new educational programs in the new budget was obvious Tuesday night.
"I hate for us to add 21.5 new positions and not improve the system," board member Don Lacy said.
The budget does not advance the cause of education in the county, board members agreed.
The board discussed laying off some teachers not required by the state standards of quality - primarily those who teach electives and have small classes on the high school level - and increasing class sizes to free up money for pursuing new programs. However, board members eventually abandoned that idea.
"I can't support taking 21 teachers from the classroom and raising class sizes to 35," board member Annette Perkins said. "I think all we're talking about here is ludicrous in terms of how it affects the children."
During the discussion, board member Lou Herrmann, another opponent of cutting teachers, held up a newspaper article, headlined "Smaller classes mean higher test scores."
Lacy, who brought up the idea in the first place, agreed that increasing class sizes would be as unpopular as suggesting doing away with athletics or money for field trips.
Instead of cutting teachers, the board instructed John Martin, assistant superintendent, to find roughly $860,000 (the approximate annual cost of 21 new teachers) somewhere in the school budget. That money could be used for educational initiatives, such as equalizing the teacher's salary scale and paying for an expanded Reading Recovery Program, Lacy said.
Lacy suggested that some cuts might be made by freezing travel, professional leave and attendance at educational conferences for a year. Another place cuts might be made, Lacy suggested, could be moving some central administrators back to the classroom.
"I don't think it's always appropriate to say let's add more if we don't cut somewhere," Lacy said.
Lacy also questioned the need for adding so many new special education teachers. He noted that the county has a higher percentage of special education students than other school divisions.
He also suggested that the board might want to seek an outside opinion on its staffing needs.
It's hard to explain to people that the county needs 21.5 new teaching positions next year when enrollment is expected to grow by only 125 students, Lacy said.
Part of the reason the county has more special education students is county parents are more familiar with their rights, Martin said. Martin, who was sitting in for Superintendent Harold Dodge, said he could assure the board that if it had more special education teachers than law requires, they numbered only two or three.
"There's an underlying assumption that there's a lot of fat in the budget; I don't think that's accurate," Martin said.
"It's never so lean you can't tighten the screws somewhere," board member Barry Worth said.
The School Board will continue its budget discussions at a special meeting next Tuesday night.
by CNB