RPS officially adopts $551.5 million budget for next fiscal year, city contribution helps plug late hole
After a long and arduous budget process, the Richmond School Board unanimously voted Thursday night to adopt a roughly $551.5 million budget.
The city swooped in at the eleventh hour to help fill a late budget gap, as Mayor Danny Avula announced that he would make a budget amendment to appropriate $4.78 million to the schools collected from delinquent taxes on short-term rentals in the city. The Greater Richmond Convention Center Authority, which holds the delinquent tax money, granted Avula’s request to expedite giving Richmond the funds early to help the schools, following a meeting last week.
“While it is of course not the entire deficit, it helps tremendously, and we’re just grateful for the partnership,” said Superintendent Jason Kamras, a sentiment echoed by School Board members.
Richmonder Staff
The division will receive an increase in funding from both the city and state – about $13 million and $11 million, respectively – for next year’s budget, with the city noting its funding for the schools represents an all-time high.
However, increased costs and promised raises, as well as the end of some one-time funding sources, meant the district started its budget process needing to make cuts.
Those cuts initially included the elimination of 46 full-time positions in the central office and the closure of the Richmond Virtual Academy.
But the initial budget projected that the state would contribute nearly $9 million more than they ended up contributing. And the state budget was turned in late, creating the need for more last-minute cuts.
The city's additional funding helped prevent the elimination of all annual substitute teachers and reduction to contracts with mental health services, two cuts that were proposed.
It also decreased the number of proposed eliminated teacher vacancies from 15 to five at some middle and high schools, increasing some class sizes from an average of 21 to 24. It is still unclear which schools those teacher vacancies will be eliminated from.
But it still left about $4.2 million that the Richmond School Board had to address through other cuts.
The administration proposed new ways to dial back spending – reduced spending on non-required contracts and a reduction in instructional positions within the division's alternative education programs. Both proposals will save the division nearly $1 million.
Superintendent Jason Kamras said that because the division is reorganizing its facilities department and filling key vacancies within the department, he believes that RPS can reduce its reliance on external vendors providing HVAC, plumbing and electrical services.
Victoria A. Ifatusin
The administration also reviewed class sizes within THRIVE and ASPIRE academies, alternative school programs for students who don’t have enough credits to catch up through accelerated small classrooms to get their high school diploma. Enrollment was lower than expected, Kamras said, and administrators noted that the programs can reduce the number of instructors “while maintaining core compliance and instructional integrity.”
While the Board expressed its appreciation for the additional money, Anne Holton (6th District) emphasized that the division is still running some of its budget, particularly the city contribution towards saving annual substitutes, on one-time funding.
She theorized that the division historically has relied on one-time funding to fund teachers with the intention of getting good results and later showing those results as evidence for hopefully getting more money.
“It’s a risky strategy, but it’s not a crazy strategy and I’d like to think it’s maybe a deliberate strategy,” she said.
She pointed to the state for being the vehicle to bring in that additional funding. The General Assembly has set aside money in the budget to help begin the process of addressing a new state funding formula.
Victoria A. Ifatusin
Board Chair Shavonda Fernandez (9th District) also asked the administration to begin thinking how the one-time funding will impact the budget next year.
“The RPS community deserves consistency, transparency and efficiency,” she said.
Katie Ricard (2nd District) also told the Board that the administration should spend time reviewing operations and systems to see if anything could be tightened and made more efficient, as this past budget cycle showed the need for that.
“Sometimes we just get so focused on this is how we’ve always done it, but we’re in different times,” she said. “The city and the state expect us to be good stewards of our funds.”
Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org
