THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080433
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Sen. Edward L. Schrock wants to strip away the Virginia Beach School Board's budgeting powers, even if the House of Delegates does not.
So Wednesday, he raised the stakes.
Schrock tacked the idea onto a noncontroversial bill that has passed the House unanimously - a measure to schedule Virginia Beach's City Council and School Board elections at the same time.
``It tidies up the two bills, as far as I'm concerned,'' said Schrock.
But the change also puts new pressure on the House of Delegates, which already defeated Schrock's concept of shifting the School Board's financial duties over to the City Council. Members there considered it a local government squabble, not a state one.
But with Schrock's change Wednesday, House members who want to kill the plan will now have to kill the scheduling plan with it - or reach some as-yet-unforeseen compromise.
The new bill passed the Senate 38-2, with Portsmouth Sen. Louise Lucas one of the opponents. She called the measure ``overkill.''
``It's not like this is something that happens all the time,'' said Lucas, referring to the School Board's recent financial troubles, which prompted Schrock's proposal. ``This was a one-time problem that doesn't need some drastic, permanent change.''
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