Money shortage hampers plans for new schools in Virginia Beach

Folks, if we need new schools....Just elect someone to city council who's wife,brother or cousin owns a construction company.....Haven't you figured out how things work around here yet??

The schools should be built now, if it is now that they are needed. Get the money, gouge the tourists that come to the beach in swarms every summer. Education is paramount. Those in your schools will be running your city, & country, some of them in less than 10 years. "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.” Albert Einstein

If it were then Pay raises for teachers would come first instead of the Town Center Bridge. The cost of maintaining schools would come first instead of building the Civic Center. Which I find interesting, now that I've researched more about your company it appears the main reason for your support of the Center and the Dome is not because of the boon to the economy but the boon that it would be to your business. But like you said in one article, it was a shame that you could not acquire all the land you wanted so you could not have the parking space you needed. But that's another story:

If education was the number one priority then there would be no need for more funding, it would already be funded along with the public infrastructure, but it's not. The desire for more "entertainment" first quells the NEEDS of the infrastructure.

Well, once again, get your facts straight. The funding of the budget of the school board is the number one priorty. Their budget is larger than any other department, and in fact, exceeds the total of all the other departments combined. Further, no other board or commission is of such high priority that they are entitled to a percentage of certain revenue streams by agreement between the city council and the school board. That is why the proposed Homestead Exemption, championed by the anti tax, anti government crowd so well represented on these forums, is such a threat to the school board. If the exemption is passed by the General Assembly, and voted on in November, and if council grants the 20% exemption, then the school board would lose $31,000,000 anually right off the top of their revenue stream. That's a cut of such magnitude that discussion of capital investment would have to be dropped to be replaced by a discussion of how many teachers would lose their jobs, how many services for the disabled would be cut, and how many school buses could be kept running with baling wire and duct tale.

Am I the only one who recalls how the Lottery industry sold the citizens of Virginia on the "benefits" of their game? A SUBSTAINTIAL AMOUNT IF NOT ALL OF THE "PROFITS" WERE GOING TO GO TO EDUCATION! If we allowed the lottery we were going to have the best schools in the United States! Do you remember the obvious lie now? The part they neglected to tell us was that the money wasn't going to be in ADDITION to the education budget,but was going to fund the budget!In other words the net gain to education was and still is ZERO!! The lottery indusrty makes their money off of selling machines and supplies and the consumer ends up with nothing.Research the pre-lottery sales pitch and tell me if my memory is faulty.

...Lord Barrett ends a debate with name calling and falsehoods. First, the services is not what is being talked about. I've been to Kellam. I played for my church as a guitarist and we paid (and still do) for the use on Sundays. A nice revenue stream for the school. It's not in bad shape and far from an embarrassment. If you're embarrassed by this school then you must be embarrassed when you see your hair in the morning. And if the schools are such an embarrassment to you then why don't you petition the Government to Make Schools the first priority on the budget instead of the 30th? Or would that drain to much of your income stream? I would be happy to pay more in taxes if the VB Council actually did something productive and NEEDED with my money like building a school, referbing others, and paying the teachers more and police FIRST. Then using what is left over to pay for a convention center or a sportsplex that costs 350 grand a year to operate (and that number continues to grow...) when it should have paid for itself with bookings, but hasn't...

Actually, what we need in Virginia Beach, and in all other cities of Hampton Roads, is a range of housing that meets the needs of all of our citizens. To the extent that older subdivisions are viable they offer a signifant benefit to families who need affordable housing. We also need housing that meets the need of all other income levels. Now, for those who are simply outraged that the value of their home has increased, please, sell your home, take the million dollars in equity, and take yourself and your family to the type of community that you want; that is, a rural county, with no services, so they have very low tax rates. You will probably be able to buy a large home, and you can take your garbage out once a week and find some hollow to throw it in, and you ought to be real happy. And frankly, none of us here who value the services our community has to offer, and who are pleased that our homes continue to increase in value as the city lowers the tax rate, can be assured that you will be much happier elsewhere. By!

I have lived in Hampton Roads for over 11 years. I moved here from LI New York, where the real estate taxes are quadruple what they are in Hampton Roads. Since relocating to HR, my real estate taxes have gone from around $650.00 in 1996 to $2,000.00 in 2007. At least in NY the quality of education far exceeds what it is in HR. I'm thankful I don't have children attending local schools because I would have to spend more for private education. It's a joke! This area has grown too fast and the local politicians do not have the intelligence to handle it. I guess they are all products of the HR education system.

If the older high schools in VB are an embarrassment to you, Mike, does it also follow in your mind that older developments of private homes are also an embarrassment, and the city needs an agency to get rid of those homes so developers can put up more McMansions with their higher real estate taxes? I'll bet you'd love to see the embarrassment called Aragona Village bulldozed for upscale development.

Projects like Town Center and the V.B. Convention Center may, as you wrote, "contribute to the growth of the tax base and allow us to enjoy the lowest tax rate in the region," but they haven't prevented my real estate taxes from doubling in the last five years. I'm tired of the VB city council picking my pocket to build "nice to have" infrastructure and then playing the "no money" sob story when it comes to necessities like schools. That's what the anti tax zealots are crying about, and you can bet there will be some new faces on council after the November election.

Well, I certainly agree we need to set priorities, and frankly, I can't think of a priority more important than education. My children benefited from an outstnding education in the V.B. Public Schools, and I hope those who follow will have the same experience. I do know that Kellam High School was an old school when I first came to Virginia Beach in 1969, so I don't think it is fair to say it is extravagant to talk about replacing it now. Frankly, the old high schools were and are an embarrassment to this city; we can and should do better. In order to grow the tax base, we must increase economic development, and to do so we need to invest in public infrastructure that brings a significant fiscal return. Projects like Town Center, the V.B. Convention Center, and private development like those the company I am with have developed, all contribute to the growth of the tax base and allow us to enjoy the lowest tax rate in the region with the highest service levels. What are all these anti tax zealots crying about?

I am always suprised that the real issue with these school budgets is not put out there but those doing these stories. It is widely accepted that one problem in government..federal state and local, there is not political points for infrastructure matainence and inprovements. There IS money, infulence and great construction contracts for building new projects(VOTES)....ie. NEW schools or conference centers. Here in virginia beach you will notice that in an era of huge local government windfalls we have a new convention center...not very booked I might add, and beautiful new fire stations and a host of other NEW projects. But we continue to have the same old debate year after year on school funding issues...Funny it is the one of the core issues that local government is tasked with. Wake up folks.

The high school which my father attended in the 30s, and from which I graduated in the 50s, is still graduating quality high school seniors. It is well maintained and has been periodically updated to provide the students with the latest in learning tools and technology.

In contrast, when a Virginia Beach school hits the 30 year mark or so, it's time to tear it down and put up another mega million dollar building. Are these buildings constructed with shoddy material in order to achieve planned obsolescence, or are they so poorly maintained that they cannot serve beyond 30 years? The taxpayers of Virginia Beach deserve to know the answer, but they probably won't get it from the City Council or School Board.

Mr. Barrett berates issues of old without giving an answer to the truth at hand. Which was posted with the examples of millions going to town center, the bridge, Sportsplex, and etc... But the city, like Mr Barrett, have their priorities all backwards. It would be like me telling my daughter that I can't buy her new school clothes because we must have a BMW first, a 5 bedroom house first, and then there i no money left over. The city should establish their priorities first such as schools, infrastructure, and then with what is left over pay for amenities. But, Mr Barrett would rather have the money lined in his wallet first from us tax payers and then he and the council have the never to call us Boo Birds. Sir, your priorities are mess up. Would you tell your pilots that instead of a parachute you should paint the plane first? Maybe you would...

of the needs of the residents. Priority # 1 should be to infrastructure NOT your parasitic business community. VA Beach and Chesapeake developed rapidly because of the crappy schools in Norfolk and Portsmouth. Perhaps you would like the Tidewater area to resemble Washington DC or the urban North? I sure don't!

State and local government always intentially spend money in a backwards manner. They underfund things like schools, teacher raises, public roads, etc to spend on pet projects. This and the fact that council approved too many new residential projects in the past 10 to 15 years has brought this problem roost. No worry though, they know taxpayers will eventually have to cough up. Time to clean house in the fall elections.

The taxpayers alliance members can always be relied upon to make their divisive and predictable posts. It is as if it is a surprise to them that infrastructure does need to be replaced and new infrastructure is necessary for a growing and prosperous city. Most of these boo birds are bureaucrats; that is, whether they work in government or mid level contractors, they have absolutely no comprehension of the need to invest to keep the enterprise effecient and effective. We invest in roads, schools, and amenities for our citizens because we need and want them. They on the other hand, use them, but constantly complain about the cost. Fact is, if we want a city of which we can be proud and a city that is attractive to families, we must regularly invest in infrastructure. It is not that we can't afford the cost; it is that we can't afford not to do so. The failure of the Commonwealth to invest in highways is the classic example of this; inefficient, crumbling highways and abandoned bridges is all we need to know about the ineptitude of the Wardrup, Gear, Jonanou, Allen and Gilmore philosophy.

Perhaps the city should consider planning their budget based on reality and not expect crazy tax revenue increases every year as if the housing boom would never end. Plan based on what you KNOW is coming, not based on stealing more from your citizens every year.

Gosh, what a surprise! The city schools need a few billion tax dollars to be upgraded or replaced. Boo-hoo, the "city" doesn't have the money ... yet the City Council always has plenty of tax money to blow on non-essential things like $60M Performing Arts Theaters, new $200M Convention Centers, Who nows how many millions spent on Town Center - to include a $1.7 marble fountain and now a $3M pedestrial bridge, the failed Sports Plex, the Days Inn that had to be torn down, $15M to buy a tiny lot where condos were planned to be built in the flight path of Oceana, coming soon - the "Dome Site Entertainment" venue, Rudee Loop, but money for essential schools? Sorry, we're broke! Let's raise taxes.

The values of all the homes in Virginia Beach are going to fall once all of the garbage loans and easy credit is worked out of the system. This is going to crate much larger shortfalls in budgets. It's pretty unlikely that salaries are going to double (inflation) to meet the high costs of housing. Our country is pretty broken and there is really nothing good being done to fix it.

Over the past decade, VB leaders have endorsed nearly every major residential construction project to the tune of over 15k new houses, apartments, and condos. Instead of reinvesting in older communities and redeveloping tired houses and concentrating on the folks who already live here, they rolled out the welcome mat w/ no plan to absorb the population increase. Here we are 10 years later and now its a crisis. Schools are aging and crowded, education is being cut to fund other "critical" programs, and guess what - their is a housing slump and anticipated revenues are not coming in. Had there been foresight a decade ago not to waste $$ on silly consulting projects, buying land to prevent incursion on Oceana, etc., there would be $$ available. GOOD JOB COUNCIL, THE CONCRETE JUNGLE IS ALIVE AND WELL. WE ARE ON OUR WAY TO BECOMING AN INNER-CITY.