THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 25, 1994 TAG: 9412240097
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The Suffolk School Board has decided to give its nonprofessional employees the same retirement-benefits increase the state has mandated for school professionals.
Meeting in special session Friday, the board voted unanimously to give non-professional workers - custodians, bus mechanics and cafeteria managers, for example - the 3 percent increase.
The board postponed the decision earlier this month to first find out what benefits the City Council would be willing to pay for. The council unanimously agreed Wednesday to increase retirement benefits for all current and future city retirees by 3 percent.
But the council has said it would give city departments no extra money for the raise.
The state had mandated the increase for current and future retirees from the professional ranks: teachers, administrators and clerks. It also called for a 3 percent increase for all city employees covered under the Virginia Retirement System but gave localities the option of approving and paying for it.
The increase will cost the district about $64,500 to cover its professional staff and $20,500 for the non-professional workers. The annual increase will be retroactive to Oct. 1, 1994. But the district's pocketbook won't feel the pinch until the 1996-1997 fiscal year, said Michael K. Brinkley, the district's finance director.
The state and federal governments will contribute about $231,000 in fiscal year 1996-97 for the professional staff but will provide no money to cover the other workers.
Altogether, the benefits increase will add at least $110,455 to the nearly $3.7 million the district now pays in annual retirement benefits. The district will have to find the money within its current budget. Religion policy
At its next regular meeting, Jan. 12, board attorney Wendell M. Waller is expected to clarify the board's new policy that prohibits student groups - such as choruses - from performing as part of religious services.
Earlier this month, Waller urged the board to accept the new policy to place the district on what he called firm legal ground. He said his recommendation was based on guidelines from the Virginia School Boards Association in Charlottesville.
The new policy does not specifically say students may not perform in churches. But if a group of students - representing the district - performed in a church, that performance more than likely would be part of a worship service, Waller argued.
In the past, local student groups have performed in churches, a practice still common in many school districts across the state, including in Hampton Roads. Suffolk's previous policy did not address the issue. The new policy emerged when a board subcommittee reviewed the district's policy on school-community relations.
Waller also had said that church performances appear to violate at least two parts of a legal test used to determine whether public schools are violating the separation between church and state.
The board approved the measure on a 5-2 vote but asked Waller to find out whether other school districts have come up with a policy that allows student groups to perform in churches without violating the separation principle.
Possible revisions may be aimed at making the policy more flexible - perhaps allowing, for example, performances in churches if churches seek out student groups and if students agree to perform voluntarily. by CNB