RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras appeared before Richmond City Council this week, asking for help offsetting an $8.9 million budget shortfall after the final state budget delivered far less funding than the district had anticipated.
The gap stems largely from the elimination of one-time flexible funding the district had been counting on.
Richmond
Richmond schools face $8.9M budget shortfall after state budget falls short
"We're in a bit of a conundrum," Kamras said. "We were slated to receive about $7.6 million in one-time funding that was zeroed out."
Kamras told council members the district is working to protect employees as it navigates the shortfall.
"We are trying to avoid any reductions of pay, trying to avoid layoffs, trying to avoid furloughs," Kamras said.
Among the consequences of losing that one-time funding is the district's inability to deliver on a promised 4% pay raise for teachers. Kamras said the raise will now fall short of that target.
"We are doing a 2% plus a 1.17% staff increase, so in total a 3.17% increase for teachers. We won't, unfortunately, be able to get all the way to the 4%," Kamras said.
One option RPS leaders floated to help finance the loss is redirecting revenue generated by a real estate tax. School Board Chair and 9th District representative Shavonda Fernandez framed the suggestion as part of a broader effort to explore every available option.
"As it relates to some of the surplus — potential surplus — that might be available based upon some of those rental tax funds, at this time it really is just an attempt for us to leave no stone unturned," Fernandez said.
Securing that funding could help the district avoid significant cuts, including the elimination of the annual substitute role — a proposal Kamras described as one of the most painful items under consideration.
"One of the most difficult items that we have been discussing is the elimination of the annual substitute role. These are individuals who essentially serve on the faculty, they're always there at the school, and they jump in if needed at any time," Kamras said.
Other proposed reductions include eliminating some teacher vacancies and increasing class sizes, particularly at the secondary level, as well as selling non-mission-critical vehicles and equipment and cutting non-essential professional development, travel, and food for meetings.
The chair of the Richmond City Council Education and Human Services Standing Committee, Councilwoman Lynch, responded by calling for a deeper discussion — and raised questions about the long-term picture.
"This warrants a discussion about not just this year but next year. RPS funding has continued to increase every year, the needs are not going away, and we, you know, we're going to find ourselves in this predicament, probably for the foreseeable future," Lynch said.
Fernandez acknowledged the shortfall would carry into the next budget cycle, but argued that securing one-time funding now would give the district critical time to plan.
"One-time funding would at least give us an opportunity — since we've only found out about this last week — gives us time and space to really truly do an analytical approach to how we're going to move forward," Fernandez said.
RPS leaders are scheduled to meet with City Council again on July 23. Kamras said he hopes to have an answer from council on whether and how they can help by that date, which falls just weeks before the start of the new school year.
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