ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230039
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
In your face.
That's essentially the message the Montgomery County School Board sent to the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday night. The School Board voted 7-2 to approve a budget that omits part of the first installment of funding for the new elementary school in Riner.
In this latest dig in an ever-widening ditch between the boards, School Board members said their decision would bring their lack of funding to the forefront. Its practical effect is to make the new school a pawn in the long-running funding feud.
"The problems we're facing have to be visible to some degree," said member Wat Hopkins. The decision "might have positive reactions to it."
But Roy Vickers, who voted against the budget, called the decision a "dangerous game."
"I have a tough time with this. We don't want to threaten that we're not going to build a school," he said.
In January, the School Board requested a $5.3 million, or 12 percent, budget increase. The Board of Supervisors allocated only $70,000 in new money, forcing the School Board to cut almost $4 million from its spending plan for the budget starting July 1.
Debt service, or interest, on the first loan to pay for the construction of the new elementary school in Riner was included in the budget. The School Board owes $147,000 on that debt service. The $70,000 allocated by the supervisors, School Board members decided, pays less than half that cost.
So, the board removed the other half, or $77,000, from the budget and allocated it to travel and field trip expenses.
Then the School Board agreed to a resolution asking the Board of Supervisors for $77,000 in emergency supplemental funds to pay for the rest of the debt service.
Two weeks ago, the School Board threatened to take this route on a number of funding items. Tuesday night, the board considered cutting several programs, including $305,000 in additional income for teachers who coach sports or other extra curricular activities.
The move, said Vice Chairman Barry Worth, would open some eyes.
"I can imagine that there would be no football coaches come August and there would be people filling that courthouse to complain," he said. "It'd be a way to get the public reaction to what we need them to react to."
After that proposal went nowhere, Worth also voted against the budget.
Those suggestions worried Superintendent Herman Bartlett, who said school administrators never considered such drastic cuts.
"We've never contemplated causing a rift in the county. We don't believe we ever win by pitting our children against the Board of Supervisors," he said.
By cutting a majority of initiatives proposed in Goals 2006, a long-term school-improvement plan, the budget does include a 4 percent increase in employee salaries and eight new teachers. The budget also includes $9,000 in School Board member compensation, which amounts to a 50 percent pay increase.
To make matters more difficult, administrators were informed Tuesday that insurance costs could be increased almost 10 percent, adding $305,000 to an already tight budget.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Henry Jablonski said Wednesday he couldn't predict how the board would react to the request for additional funds for the Riner school. He said every budget includes initiatives that in the end may need to be cut.
"Any time you're in a situation where you have limited resources, you have to set priorities," he said. "If the [School] Board has decided this school is a low priority, then we'll just have to discuss it."
Supervisor Mary Biggs, who is the liaison to the School Board, said she hopes this doesn't put the entire four-school building project in jeopardy.
"I really hope the two boards are going to be able to work together. They need to sit down together," she said.
Members of the School Board will attend the supervisors' meeting Tuesday, in part to try to sell their plan to build four new schools, including the Riner elementary.
"It'll make for an interesting discussion," Jablonksi said.
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