Va. Beach schools fight for saved funds

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - A feud is escalating between the Virginia Beach City Council and the school board over funds the school saved up.

Tuesday night the school board met in an emergency session and drafted a resolution blasting the council for taking funds intended for public schools to balance the budget.

In response to the School Board's escalating vocal concern, Mayor Will Sessoms sent this to the local media, "The City Council will adopt a budget that includes all the money requested by the School Board...$639 million."

The Virginia Beach School Board says money appropriated to the board should not be used for other city projects.

"It's a breech of faith as far as I'm concerned," said Virginia Beach Public Schools Superintendent Dr. James Merrill.

He is livid the Virginia Beach City Council plans to take another $8.8 million dollars from the school's reserve savings fund, and put it towards building a new animal shelter, and a new Rec Center in the Bayside area of the city.

Merrill is so incensed by the taking of money from the schools that he used the "Alert Now" system for school closings to inform parents what the council plans to do.

"If we've created an opportunity for public input then so be it. There's a few days before the council makes a decision, so let's have a public referendum," he said.

Beach Councilman Glenn Davis was then outraged by Merrill's use of Alert Now.

"The fact is this will not impact class sizes," Davis said. "This is a scare tactic when the the superintendent used the emergency system to contact 85 thousand students and parents, and I am offended he used that system for political posturing."

Merrill said the money is coming from the successful efforts of the school system's cost savings strategies that allowed them to save $23.5 million dollars in the following ways:

1. Eliminating positions
2. Making overtime changes
3. Closing a school
4. Making program changes
5. Instituting new energy-savings programs

"Look, it's one government," said Davis. "It's not their money, and it's not the city's money. It belongs to the taxpayers. It's their money."

Merrill counters, "This money was originally given to us according to the revenue sharing formula. It came to the schools, the money was saved for the schools, and then the Council said we are taking $8.8 million of what you saved."

Davis said, "The taxpayers, whom this money belongs to, asked for the rec. center and the animal shelter. Our job is to provide what they are asking for, and that's what we are doing."

The City Council votes on the budget that includes the animal shelter and the rec. center on Tuesday. For the school, it comes to "use it or lose it."

Dr. Merrill argues that they have been saving it, and should not feel the need to spend it.

Councilman Davis says the school board should not be so greedy and that the school board has more than $40 million surplus in other funds.