ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602050004
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: New River Journal
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN
Montgomery County's first School Board to have elected members is approaching its major test - whether it can successfully negotiate a budget with the Board of Supervisors that significantly increases local spending for county schools.
The easy part is over. The board almost routinely approved a $53.2 million budget proposed by Superintendent Herman Bartlett. It calls for a hefty increase in county funds - and therefore county taxes - to give teachers and other school employees a 7 percent raise, to hire 27 new teachers to lower class sizes, and to pay for smaller requests, such as math and science supplies.
Regardless of its merits, the only thing such a large budget request accomplished in previous years was strained relations between the School Board and supervisors.
If the School Board wants anything remotely similar to this budget to pass, its real job begins now. Board members need to talk to supervisors face-to-face, quietly convincing them that funding the budget will pay off by improving education for county children. Perhaps tougher, they will also have to make their case with the folks that the supervisors really listen to - average local voters. The supervisors will want to know that their constituents will endorse this budget in the polling booth come the next election.
In the past, a dry budget document, terse and irritated memos between school and county officials, and dialogue conducted only in newspaper columns failed to win the School Board's case
This year, the case is especially challenging because the budget seeks a 12 percent increase in funds. The schools want $4 million more in county dollars, compared to an increase of $800,000 last year.
Both boards can honestly claim they are acting on a mandate from local voters.
The School Board is following its map for the future, Focus 2006 - a grass-roots strategy written by 200-300 people from throughout the rural and urban sections of the county. The voters this year elected school board candidates who have strongly supported Focus 2006 and the increased funding needed to achieve its goals, such as smaller classes, more computers in classrooms and programs to help at-risk pupils.
"The case makes itself," said new School Board member Wat Hopkins of the budget request. "We feel that those of us [School Board members] who are elected represent the people as much as the supervisors do."
The supervisors, likewise, have been returned to office by voters who value their tightwad habits with the county's dollars.
It's not so different from the budget crisis in Washington where voters can't see the irony of voting for a president and Congress with diametrically opposing philosophies and then being irate when the two can't reach agreement.
The School Board may have to compromise. It should also be sure it has scrutinized its own operation to make sure it is as efficient and lean as possible. Whether the School Board members' decision to vote themselves a raise from $1,800 to $3,600 a year will become an issue remains to be seen.
But the voices that will have the most impact on the supervisors are those of their neighbors who stop to chat at the grocery store, in church, on the telephone. Will they urge more school funding? Or argue against the tax dollars it will cost?
Supervisor Nick Rush, who allowed as how the School Board's request was "a pretty hefty budget," said he would like to see the School Board concentrate on pay raises for teachers and relieving them of some of their administrative burdens rather than using more dollars for the costly effort of reducing class sizes.
Rush's chief concern, and one shared by the other supervisors who have to levy the local taxes, is the burden the local property tax places especially on the frail shoulders of the county's older population. "That is the group whose houses are worth more every year, but their income doesn't grow ... They are on pension or Social Security and ... they are living real close to the edge."
Although parents and teachers are often the most visible lobbying groups when school funding is the issue, it's the reaction of these average county taxpayers and voters who will likely determine whether our schools have more teachers, more innovative programs and a proposed 7 percent raise for local teachers.
So be mindful of what you say to your local supervisors in the next few weeks. The voices of those few who do speak up could determine educational standards in our county for the future.
Elizabeth Obenshain is The Roanoke Times' New River editor.
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