RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras is calling on the General Assembly to amend Governor Glenn Youngkin’s proposed state budget for the next two fiscal years.
On Thursday, Dec. 21, Kamras posted a statement on X in response to Gov. Youngkin’s proposed budget plans for the next two fiscal years.
In the post, Kamras wrote that Richmond Public Schools would face a $5 million reduction in the district’s current fiscal year budget, and about a $21 million decrease in state funding for the next school year.
Kamras said that part of these losses came in response to the rise in the school’s Local Composite Index (LCI) — which determines a school division’s ability to pay educational costs that are necessary to the Commonwealth’s Standards of Quality of local funds.
These losses are formula-driven — they are partly a result of the rise in our Local Composite Index (LCI) calculation. The remaining losses are driven by technical updates to the funding formula, including the removal of a ‘hold harmless’ following the loss of sales-tax revenue from grocery sales.
Jason Kamras – superintendent, Richmond Public Schools
Kamras also said Youngkin’s budget failed to include any basis for new funding to support the needs of students across the Commonwealth — specifically in places where there are a “diverse community of learners.”
Jonathan Young, a Richmond Public School board member serving the fourth district, told 8News he’s neither for nor against the Governor’s newest budget plan, but focused on providing context to the district’s excessive spending.
“We are spending this year hundreds of thousands of dollars on trailers in a school district that has 8,700 vacant or empty seats in our buildings. As a school district, my colleagues just approved construction [for] over 500 students, [and the] school and the campus has but 228 students on it,” Young said.
Young said the school district had also spent tens of thousands of dollars for curriculum resources that are accessible online and through open source content.
According to Young, the school board is spending about 65% more of their money than when he started in 2017.
“It’s really important to point out that my colleagues have been spending a lot of that money on all the wrong places,” Young said.
Rather than request an increase in funding, Young suggests district leaders find a way to better allocate current funds.
“We’re going to continue to spend a substantial sum of money in Richmond Public schools because our kids deserve it, and surely our teachers too, but the reality is that until my colleagues adopt some kind of fiscal sense, I think that you’re going to continue to hear this, this back and forth,” Young said.
8News reached out to the Governor’s Office for comment in response to Kamras’ post and was sent a statement via email:
The Department of Education implemented the funding formula as it always has. Rising costs are fully accounted for in the budget, along with the recognition that student enrollment is declining. The pandemic, with various Federal relief funding and the Commonwealth’s recent response to learning loss in the Chapter 1 budget, introduced several one-time sources of funds that needed to be weighed in determining inputs to the formula. Generally, one-time funding was treated as that—one-time funding.
Macaulay Porter, press secretary, Office of the Governor
The House Appropriations Committee, along with the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, will hold virtual public hearings on Youngkin’s budget plan in the new year.
Proposed changes and negotiations are expected to follow these meetings before a budget plan is finalized, and will require the Governor’s final review to either sign or veto.
