Ever since I’ve lived in Richmond, the public narrative has been, “We cannot fund schools until…”
Here’s how it goes — the school board submits a budget, the public says you can’t get funding until …. and RPS gets shortchanged. We’ve been in a crisis of delay for decades and our kids are suffering. RPS has one of the worst graduation rates in the state, we desperately need supports for our growing English Language Learner population, less than half of our schools are accredited, students have ceiling tiles falling on their heads due to years of under-investing in school maintenance and the list goes on and on.
During my first year on the board I went on a tour of one of our elementary schools and literally vomited on the front lawn because the smell inside the school was so putrid. I would never send my child to that school and I can’t in good conscience ask anyone to put their child in that type of environment. It really is that bad.
This year, we decided to try something different. We worked to address every piece of push-back we receive when asking for more.
Request 1: Get Your Fiscal House in Order
- Hired the Council on Great City Schools to conduct a budget audit, working to systematically respond to each action item
- Secured funding for an auditor — we’re hiring anyone want a job?!
- Set up a Finance Committee to review budgetary matters
Request 2: Rezone and Right Size our Buildings
- Committed to completing by the end of 2019
- Voted 8–0* to update the facilities plan that includes potential consolidation and looks at unused RPS properties
Request 3: Look for Efficiencies in Your Budget
- Made $13 MM in cuts to central office
- Cut 20% of central office staff
Request 4: Have a Plan
- Had 171 community meetings to solicit public input on a new strategic plan
- Voted 9–0 to approve a five year strategic plan (the old plan expired in 2015)
Request 5: Ensure a Taxpayers are Getting an ROI
- As part of our budget request we are working on a resolution that officially locks in our commitment to complete rezoning and to creating a balanced scorecard that measures our progress to the goals in the strategic plan
- The Superintendent has committed to identifying key performance indicators for every line item in the strategic plan and we will provide regular reports on these metrics to City Council and the public
I’m grateful that we have a Mayor that put forth a bold proposal to fully fund our budget request. As with any proposal there is room for improvement. I want to ensure that if we have a revenue increase, it is specifically and legally committed to going to the schools. I want us to explore every way possible to ensure our most financially vulnerable are protected from tax increases.
That said, for my family, we can afford and are willing to pay the additional $25/month in property taxes for my house (to calculate your estimated cost use the following equation: (house value/$100 * 9 cents) / 12 months).
The operating budget in 2007 (pre recession) was $280 MM. In today’s dollars that same level of funding would be $340 MM. This board’s budget request is $311 MM. To say our schools are fully funded today is patently untrue.
I know we have all of the pieces in place to transform Richmond schools but we cannot achieve our goals if we are continually asked to do more with less. I want to end the crisis of delay and stop leaving our kids behind. Who’s with me?
P.S. Click here to read my other piece that answers your questions on why the cuts, why the adds and what happened during our budgeting process.
*Plus one abstention.
