I Question: Virginia law allows the Board of Supervisors

I Question: Virginia law allows the Board of Supervisors to approve the proposed school budget as a whole or by categories. In some jurisidictions, the decision to approve by categories has caused tension between the School Board, which wants to retain as much autonomy as possible, and the Supervisors, who want to exercise control of categories and it is rumored, even line items. Which would you favor?

Frank Fishback: “The School Board should know what the schools need . . . The Supervisors have an obligation to review the budget, to question large increases . . . We must have cooperation between the Supervisors and the School Board.”

Ron Frazier: “I favor approval by categories, rather than randomly cutting the budget and throwing it back to the School Board . . . It’s possible that a slightly inflated budget could make its way to the Supervisors . . . The prudent thing to do is go by categories. The Supervisors may say they’d like to see a little more in a certain category. I know that hasn’t happened in the past, but it might in the fiiture.”

Hubert Gilkey: “The reason why the school budget has been approved by categories for the past two years is that the Supervisors felt the presentation by the superintendent - the superintendent and not the School Board - left something to be desired. We asked for certain things and we made suggestions and they were totally ignored . . . Once trust is restored, we could revert back to approval of the bottom line.”

Lee Bird: “If there was no history, I would favor a bottom line appropriation. I don’t think the Board of Supervisors should be involved in the details (of the educational programs). That’s the responsibility of the School Board and the administrators ... It is also appropriate for the Supervisors to make comments