Schools’ ask for extra $30.8 million draws some concern but little conversation from Council committee

Richmond officials regularly talk up the need for more productive dialogue between the City Council and school leaders.

But when Superintendent Jason Kamras appeared before a council committee Thursday afternoon to discuss the schools’ funding ask for the coming year, the group seemed to decide it didn’t have much to talk about — at least not in public.

Besides a few brief questions about state funding, spending baselines and what extra funding proposals the schools had already scrapped, there was virtually no discussion of what members thought of the School Board’s plan for the upcoming year, which would require an additional $30.8 million in operating funds and $14.8 million for building needs.

Stephanie Lynch, chair of Council’s Education and Human Services Committee, called for Kamras to have one-on-one meetings with each member of the body to do a “deeper dive” into the proposal. 

“He’s not met with us at all, and they’re coming to us with a really large ask,” Lynch told The Richmonder after the meeting. She said it was “customary” for the superintendent to have lengthy discussions with members of Council, who are responsible for making the final decision every year on how the city will spend its money, ahead of presenting a budget to them. 

“That has not transpired,” she said. 

Kamras said Thursday that he had met with Council President Cynthia Newbille (7th District) to discuss the proposal, although Lynch pointedly noted from the dais that the councilwoman was only “one of nine.” 

Alyssa Schwenk, a spokesperson for RPS, said the superintendent has been working since early February to set up meetings between Kamras and Council members. 

“Unsurprisingly and understandably, it's been tougher this winter than in years past to get meetings on the calendar,” she said in an email. 

Under the city’s typical budget calendar, the School Board crafts its spending ask in the winter and submits it to the mayor in March. The mayor then puts together his own proposal for City Council to consider. Once Council comes to a decision, the School Board adjusts its budget within the constraints set for it by the other body. 

Richmond Public Schools has received record funding from the city in recent years, with allocations rising from roughly $151 million in fiscal year 2017 to $239 million last year — a 57% increase. 

Kamras’ initial proposal to the School Board this January called for an additional $43.7 million in operational spending, although he has been frank in telling the board such a figure is unlikely given tight financial forecasts. The only increase he has said the board might realistically expect is an extra $16.5 million to cover the cost of collective bargaining agreements the division has signed with teachers and other groups of employees. 

Nevertheless, the School Board voted March 4 to back a slightly pared-down version of Kamras’ plan that would require an extra $30.8 million from the city. 

Board member Shonda Harris-Muhammed (6th District), who had previously pushed for the board to propose a slimmer $23 million plan, struck a note of caution after the vote, saying that “regardless of if we get additional funding or what we’re asking or not, we’re going to have to be courageous about the cuts we’re going to have to make.” 

Schwenk, the RPS spokesperson, noted that “it's a tough budget season across the board, and we know there aren't easy choices this year.” 

“The board and the administration discussed this at length during the RPS budget work sessions, ultimately trimming the ask by $13 million before advancing it to the city,” she wrote in an email. 

While it isn’t unusual for school boards in Virginia — which have no power to raise funds themselves — to ask their local governing bodies for more money than they expect to get, Lynch told The Richmonder those requests put City Council “in an impossible lose-lose situation” where any cuts or scrutiny of the schools budget leads to public backlash.

“We’ve continued to invest and invest and invest. Where is that actually getting the students and families?” she asked. “We’ve got to have an understanding of where the School Board and the superintendent is coming from with their asks.” 

Some of the councilors on the Education and Human Services Committee Thursday appeared caught off guard by the plan presented by Kamras, even though it was approved by the School Board last week.

“Being that I’m just seeing this 60 seconds ago, it’s really hard to answer or ask any detailed questions,” said Councilor Nicole Jones (9th District). 

Both Lynch and 1st District Councilor Andrew Breton said one-on-one meetings between councilors and Kamras would allow the parties to better examine the details of the schools’ budget proposal at length, although Breton acknowledged that approach would “lose the public oversight” that comes from having those discussions in a public meeting forum. 

Lynch said there will be many more opportunities for City Council to publicly discuss the budget with Kamras as the spring progresses. 

“I didn’t feel like our committee members were prepared to do that today,” she said.