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line items Estabrook proposes to decrease from this year’s funding level.
70 Cents
For Science
High school science teacher Brion Patterson said when he First came to Rappahannock about seven years ago. he conducted a survey on funding levels in 1 the general area of science ; equipment. He found that 1 adjoining counties— 1 Culpeper, Page and '■ Orange—expended ap- 1 proximately $12 per student 1 annually while the Valley's ' city schools spent $20. “At 1 that time Rappahannock spent around 70 cents per student," he reported, adding that the entire budget for the science department was then only $250. “I couldn’t really do anything—1 couldn’t even supply the kids with litmus paper,” Patterson said.
He acknowledged that there’s been a “tremendous improvement” over the past few years, thanks to the school board’s approval of larger amounts for instructional supplies. But equipment for a laboratory science program is expensive, Patterson maintained, showing the school board members a small box of equipment that he estimated would cost at least $270. He asked that the line item for instructional supplies be increased over the current allocation of $41,695 to cover inflation or at least be kept at the same level.
Guidance counselor James Futrell reported that he spends close to 50 percent of his time doing clerical work that is handled by a full-time secretary in other school divisions. He emphasized that the time he spends typing and filing should be spent in offering students guidance and counseling instead and asked if the proposed budget included funds for a part-time secretary, a position he has requested for the past several years.
Estabrook answered that his proposal did not reflect funds for clerical help for the guidance office but added that there are other ways of accomplishing the same ends, possible through having students handle some of the clerical work as part of career exploration, and indicated he will work with Futrell on resolving the problem.
LD-ED Request
Debbie Harris, high school teacher for learning disabled and emotionally disturbed students, asked if funds are provided in the budget for an LD-ED self-contained classroom. This year, said Harris, she works with 14 students on a resource basis and serves four students in a self-contained program. Next year, she will have eight selfcontained students. “1 don’t know how it will be possible to schedule (the different resource classes around working with self-contained students)," she added.
Jerry Lysik, director of special education, replied that the proposed budget does not include a selfcontained ED-LD class at the high school. “I’m not saying there’s no need—there’s no teacher in the budget at the present time.”
The special education program “is growing by leaps and bounds at the elementary and high school levels but we’re not hiring at the high school level.” Harris responded.
89.8%