THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 TAG: 9604230349
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
At Granby High, most chemistry students can't take their books home because there aren't enough to go around.
At Northside Middle, parents and students last year became so tired of roof tar leaking into the cafeteria that they agreed to raise half the money - about $10,000 - to get the roof repaired sooner.
And at Booker T. Washington High, the principal worries that technology is passing his students by because classrooms are not equipped with the wiring and power needed to network computers and access the Internet.
``We have to improve - and quickly,'' said the principal, Joel R. Wagner.
At schools across the city, similar stories abound. Leaky roofs. Not enough computers. Too many classrooms in mobile units. Citywide, 131 mobiles are in use, the equivalent of five schools.
The bottom line, say many parents, educators and students, is that the schools need more money.
But the City Council, which approves the school budget, defends its spending record on education - more than $81 million in school construction projects in eight years, for example. And for them, the bottom line is this: School officials must ensure they're making the best use of the dollars they do get.
As the City Council today begins to debate its 1996-97 budget, school PTAs and teachers groups are gearing up to make their case.
For several years, they've watched quietly as the city pumped millions into downtown economic projects - the Harbor Park baseball stadium, Nauticus and now the planned MacArthur Center mall.
Now, they say that the city's children can't afford to wait any longer.
``Whenever it's a pet project for the city, they never seem to have trouble finding the money,'' Marian Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers, said. The group plans to run a phone bank and letter-writing campaign to lobby the council for more money.
``We're tired of being on the back burner,'' she said.
The Norfolk Council of PTAs, which represents 52 schools and more than 12,000 members, recently passed a resolution that states in part: ``. . . in spite of aggressive renovation efforts, there are still schools without air conditioning . . . facilities with insufficient space and persistent roof leaks, buildings with inadequate wiring to support technology, and schools with other structural problems.''
The PTA council is asking the city for a ``substantial increase'' in the school system's capital improvement budget, which is set aside for construction projects.
In an aging school system like Norfolk's - where the average building is 43 years old - the needs are enormous. ``There's this big push for technology, but there's really a radical amount of renovation needed to support any technology,'' said Amy Rhodes, a PTA Council spokeswoman.
But city officials point to accomplishments: Since 1988, the city has opened four new schools and completed three major renovations.
Councilman G. Conoly Phillips said the investments in downtown have been an attempt to build the city's tax base at a time when revenue growth has leveled off.
``We're trying to build our tax base so we can give more money to the schools and everybody else,'' Phillips said. ``You've got to invest money to make money.''
Council members said schools are competing with other vital needs - police and fire protection, libraries and neighborhood revitalization, for example. Phillips portrayed funding decisions as a zero-sum game: If more money is given to one group, there is less to give to somebody else.
``I don't believe the majority of our citizens want us to raise property taxes, which is where we'd have to go to provide the schools more money,'' Phillips said.
Jose Fernandez, parent of a child at Jacox Elementary, is one who wouldn't mind paying higher taxes - as long as the money went to the children. ``But not all of it is going to education,'' he said. ``The building needs to be updated and a paint job, and the library needs to be bigger with more books and things for the kids.''
School Board member James Herndon said he is especially concerned about the proliferation of mobile classrooms.
``I don't think we ought to let the city off the hook,'' Herndon said. ``Since Norfolk is not perceived as a `growth' city, you would think we wouldn't be in a position of having temporary units - but we are.''
While parents and school officials identify many critical capital needs, they also say more money is needed to run the schools. John Medas, a director for the Education Association of Norfolk, said it appears that education funding ``is not the priority it once was.''
In the classroom, dollar shortages might translate into such things as outdated textbooks. Matt Hartnett, a junior at Granby High, said there aren't enough chemistry books for every student to take one home. And history books his class used last year went up to President Reagan's first term in office.
``They were pretty old,'' Hartnett said. ``You know how you write your name in the book? We were past the bottom line.''
General spending for the schools, Medas said, has been anemic since the city was hit by a recession in 1990-91. School officials said the city's share has increased only about $100,000 since 1990 - a rise of about one-tenth of a percent. The consumer price index has jumped 17 percent over the same period, school officials said.
In addition, critics point out, the percentage of the city budget spent on education has actually declined - from 43.3 percent of the budget in 1989-90 to 40.4 percent in 1995-96. ``We have been patient, because for the 10 to 15 years prior to (the recession), council provided hefty support,'' Medas said. ``We said we understood that things have been tough, and that we'd grit our teeth and hang on. Well, it's been five years now, and we've lost patience.''
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOL BOARD SCHOOL BUDGET NORFOLK CITY COUNCIL by CNB