DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997              TAG: 9704090439

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   75 lines

BEACH EDGES TOWARD TAX INCREASE DISPARATE GROUPS BAND TOGETHER TO PUSH FOR CLOSING THE GAP IN THE SCHOOL BUDGET.

They don't share a name, but they have a common goal.

The budget stalemate between the City Council and the School Board has brought together a broad coalition committed to full funding of the city's schools.

Working together under the slogan ``Fund quality schools now,'' they hope to convince the council to provide the dollars the district says it needs to serve children.

Some of these folks have worked at cross-purposes in the past, but they say this issue is big enough to bring them all to the same table.

``We're saying to City Council `Believe all these people in support of schools,' '' said Michael Katsias, chairman of the Community Advisory Committee for Gifted Education. ``And whatever way you need to rearrange priorities, do it to provide schools what they need now.'''

Katsias' group has joined forces with the Virginia Beach Education Association, the Virginia Beach Association for the Gifted and Talented, the Virginia Beach Public Schools Special Education Advisory Committee, the Virginia Beach Policemen's Benevolent Association, and the Minority Roundtable of Hampton Roads.

The alliance stands to reach a wider cross-section of the community than usually becomes involved in education issues. The group's participants say that education is such a crucial part of the health of the city, they hope to reach as many people as possible with their message.

Jennifer Velez, a member of the Special Education Advisory Committee and a military spouse, said schools determine where her family lives when they make a move.

``The schools are everything,'' she said.

Richard McKinney of the Association for the Gifted and Talented said his wife sat in on first-grade classrooms at several schools before his family decided where they would live.

``Education is the future of the community,'' he said.

The city and school division are separated by millions of dollars for next year's operating and capital budgets. Municipal leaders say they can afford $13.2 million less than education leaders say they need for operations - the cost of running the schools day to day.

Under a new way of funding education in the city, the School Board must now request a tax increase if that budget is to be fully funded. City officials have said they would have to cut funding to other agencies in the Beach next year to give the schools all that has been requested.

On the capital budget, the money used for construction, additions and building repairs, the city staff has suggested spending be limited across the board. For the schools, that translates into $14.2 million less for next year than had been requested.

Michael Hamar, also of the Association for the Gifted and Talented, said the budgets presented by the school division are fair and represent the needs of public education in the city. Neither the council nor community should punish the current schools' leadership for financial problems under previous boards and administrators, he said.

``To me, education is such a basic thing. Anyone, regardless of their background, with a good quality education, really the sky is the limit,'' Hamar said. ``This is what gives you a chance.''

The different organizations are cooperating on a number of fronts, including running a newspaper ad in support of full funding and a campaign to have citizens send in postcards to council members calling for funding the School Board's budget as submitted.

They also hope to mass their various constituencies at a 6:30 p.m. rally on April 17 at Princess Anne High School prior to a City Council public hearing there on the budget. The rally is being spearheaded by the Beach's Council of PTAs, which is not participating in the larger group of organizations but does support full funding for the schools.

Those taking part in the alliance say that money alone does not guarantee quality education, but that successful programs cannot be had for free.

``Programs that have shown they work are the ones that might be lost,'' Hamar said. KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY COUNCIL

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