DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997                 TAG: 9703090152

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   92 lines

BOARD MAY INCREASE BUDGET MAGNET SCHOOL PROGRAMS, CUT FROM INITIAL BUDGET, MIGHT BENEFIT FROM ADDED FUNDS.

The School Board appears poised to add some programs and positions into the division's budget for next year that did not make the initial cut because of a lack of funding.

At their retreat on Saturday, board members offered unanimous support for funding 200 additional students at Kemps Landing Magnet School, ninth-grade students at two other highly regarded magnet programs, and testing of all first-grade and elementary-age transfer students for the gifted program.

Those additions would cost about $870,000.

Although no formal vote was taken, the board also asked for the cost of a number of other initiatives or expansions so that those can be considered at a special work session on the budget Wednesday evening.

Those items may or may not be included in the financial plan, which board members are scheduled to vote on March 18. But it appears inevitable that at least some of them will make it in.

``We have things that we feel are essential, not a luxury'' that need to be added, board Chairman Robert Hagans said.

Because school boards in Virginia do not have taxing authority, the budget must then go to the City Council for approval.

Also Saturday, school officials said that after several years of budget turmoil, the division appears headed for a surplus at the end of this fiscal year of up to $12 million. But officials described that figure as ``very soft,'' and said they won't know for sure until the fiscal year ends June 30.

Because the use of surplus money is strictly limited to one-time costs its impact on the 1997-98 financial picture is minimal. The money could be placed in a special fund reserved for emergencies.

But board members are still left with a bare-bones budget for the coming year. School Board members want to know the cost of several items they are considering adding to the budget, including:

Addition of a nurse, guidance counselor and police officer for Open Campus High School.

Expansion of a pre-school program for at-risk 4-year-olds.

Reduction of the cap on class size in kindergarten through third grades from 28 to 26.

Creation of a drug and alcohol intervention program.

Creation of a tutorial program for middle and high school students with less than a 2.0 grade point average.

Board members individually offered up items for the list, but five of them had to agree to keep it for later consideration.

Their efforts came as school funding enters a new era in the Beach.

For the first time, the district's spending plan is to be based on a fixed percentage of revenue from some city taxes. If the budget exceeds that revenue, school leaders must request a tax increase.

As it turns out, the district may now get even less money than expected from the city, making a tax increase inevitable unless the board manages to cut substantially more than it adds.

While there was a gap of about $12 million between the superintendent's proposed $418.8 million budget and expected city funding, school officials were recently notified that revenue may be less than anticipated - widening the gap between plan and dollars to about $13.6 million.

The community has rallied in recent weeks, showing their support for specific programs, but also for better funding of the city's schools in general.

Virginia Beach historically has ranked ninth out of the 10 largest divisions in the state in per-pupil spending. It ranks 71st out of 133 divisions in the state in local per-pupil contribution.

City officials have countered that they must fund all city services, not just the schools, and that they cannot afford to meet all budget requests.

On Saturday, it was clear most on the board felt additions need to be made to the budget proposed by the superintendent, which includes no new or expanded programs.

Board member Nancy Guy said she felt strongly that the document didn't meet her responsibility to provide a needs-based budget.

Board member Tim Jackson agreed.

``We want a budget that reflects the needs of our children,'' he said.

For the first time openly, the board also discussed a possible response to the funding plan approved by the city.

The initial proposal for a percentage-based funding formula came from the city, and the leadership of the two boards spent weeks in negotiations over the specifics.

While the school district won concessions on some key points, the council approved the percentage of money and tax streams involved, despite the school board's request that those items remain in negotiation.

And some board members have privately expressed anger and frustration because they feel the board's position was misrepresented to the public as supportive of the entire plan when the council voted on it late last month.

Indeed, several parents present for that vote have said they didn't realize what happened until after the fact and thought the council was giving the schools a larger amount of money than was actually granted.

The board agreed to plan some sort of public statement on the formula and its impact on school funding. KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD BUDGET

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