THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240368
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Former Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette will return to testify before a special grand jury February 1.
The grand jury has been investigating the district's finances since December in light of a $12.1 million budget shortfall at the end of the last fiscal year. Faucette was Beach superintendent for four years, leaving the district last summer to head up schools in Gwinnett County, Ga.
Neither Faucette nor his attorney here, Kenneth V. Geroe, could be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. However Berney Kirkland, spokeswoman for the Gwinnett schools, said Faucette would be testifying.
For several months, Faucette has vowed to return to help unravel the budget mess if asked to. The special grand jury could not force him to return because he is out of state.
A unified Beach School Board had approved a strongly worded resolution in December asking Faucette to return and testify before the special grand jury.
Last week, the board denied his request to pay for his legal counsel before the panel. Kirkland said Faucette would be paying his own expenses related to his testimony.
Faucette told the board in December 1994 that the district faced a budget deficit unless tough spending measures were put in place. He regularly reassured board members after that, however, that the finances were under control.
Faucette has since said that he relied on his finance staff for information, that a board budget review committee cut him out of the loop, and that the city's financial system preempted his direct oversight of the budget.
An external audit of the 1994-95 school budget revealed a litany of problems, including miscalculations of revenues and expenditures, and excessive transfers between line items. However, that report stopped short of assessing responsibility. Community pressure has mounted for someone to name names in the crisis.
The same problems that plagued last year's budget have carried over into this year's, prompting extensive spending restrictions and raising the strong possibility that the board may have to seek additional money from the City Council. That budget was approved during Faucette's last weeks as superintendent.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD BUDGET by CNB