RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond city officials pledged $4.78 million in tax revenue to Richmond Public Schools Thursday, and the school board approved its amended budget for the upcoming school year just hours later.
Mayor Danny Avula announced the funding move during a joint news conference with school and city leaders, where officials also unveiled a proposal to ask voters to approve a new 1% sales tax in November to fund long-term school construction and repairs.
Richmond
Richmond proposes sales tax vote to fix $1 billion school repair backlog
"I will be submitting a budget amendment to appropriate $4.78 million of the city's lodging tax rebate to help close the school budget gap that they announced earlier this month," Avula said. "This is a big move that we are making immediately for the benefit of our students."
The pledge was a partial answer to a request from school board leaders, who had asked the city for nearly $9 million to address a shortfall that occurred after the district received less state funding than expected.
"We boldly stepped out to ask for just the minimum," said Cheryl Burke, who represents the 7th District on the school board. "It was important for us to make sure there weren't any stones that were not turned over."
School Board Chair Shavonda Fernandez said the funding was welcome relief after a difficult budget season.
"We thought that we had closed the chapter to a very difficult budget season with the $21 million shortfall and to have to come back again for another. The $9 million was, you know, it's a tough ask, but we are grateful," Fernandez said.
Because of the additional funding, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras said there will be no additional layoffs or reductions in pay. Positions previously at risk — including annual substitutes and some mental health resources — will be preserved.
"Substitutes, having been a substitute for a couple of months, we can't do without them, they're a part of the puzzle. I'm very very pleased they continue to be a part of that position and then some," Burke said.
Because the full $9 million deficit was not met, the district still made several cuts, including:
- Freezing all non-instructional vacancies ($1 million)
- Selling non-essential cars and equipment ($630,000)
- Reducing non-required contracts with outside vendors ($600,000)
"We believe that by filling several facilities vacancies we will likely be able to reduce our need for external vendors, not completely," Kamras said.
Kamras also said the district eliminated 5 secondary teacher vacancies, which he said would increase some class sizes from 21 to 24 students.
With the start of the new school year just weeks away, school board members said finalizing the budget was bittersweet.
"We're grateful that we got over this hump, but there's still so much work to go, there's so much inequity," Fernandez said.
The school board's vote to approve the amended budget came the same day city and school leaders announced the proposed 1% sales tax referendum. If approved by voters in November, the tax — which would exclude medicine and groceries — is estimated to raise $47.5 million in its first year and make $850 million available for school capital projects between 2028 and 2034.
Watch: Richmond proposes 1% sales tax vote to fix $1 billion school repair backlog
Kamras described the scale of need within RPS buildings.
"At minimum, it's a billion-dollar challenge that we face. Roofs that leak, HVAC systems that don't provide as much cooling as we'd like when it's warm and as much warming as we like when it's cold. We have asbestos in some buildings. We have facades that are crumbling," Kamras said.
The full list of budget cuts can be viewed here.
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