Federal aid helps Norfolk school division avoid layoffs

NORFOLK

With the additional money Norfolk Public Schools expects to receive from the federal stimulus package, the division will be able to avoid laying off employees, Superintendent Stephen C. Jones told the School Board on Wednesday.

The division expects to receive about $12.1 million from the stimulus package, Jones said, which is enough to avoid eliminating 185 of the 230 jobs his original budget had proposed cutting. Those 185 position s are currently filled; the rest, which are either unfilled or will be empty because of retirements, will still be cut.

Under Jones' new plan, presented at an afternoon work session, stimulus money also will go toward some of the programs that were on the chopping block in the original budget: in-school suspension, transportation to athletic events five days a week, tuition reimbursement for teachers and dual-enrollment programs for students who wish to take classes at Tidewater Community College, among others.

"I'm glad to see some of the things that make a real difference in the classroom will be reinstated," said Monte Lloyd Mercer, president of the Education Association of Norfolk, after the meeting.

At the work session, the board also weighed whether to ask for more money from the city. Jones' original plan included a request for $99.3 million in local funding, but on Wednesday, board members said they wanted to boost that by $5.2 million, bringing it even with the amount of money the division received this year.

The board scheduled a second work session on the budget for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. They'll vote on a first version of the budget to send to the City Council on Wednesday.

Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com