RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Richmond Public Schools (RPS) School Board voted Monday to approve the school district’s budget for the fiscal year 2025 — despite efforts from some board members to delay the vote.
The budget includes a total increase in expenditure of $38 million, more than half of which will go towards raises for teachers and other staff members. Money will also go towards repairs for some school district facilities, as well as expanding the RPS 200 program.
The budget also includes some reductions, including for back-to-school Amazon gift cards and nurse sharing for Maggie Walker Governor’s School, totaling $589,407.
Some school board members wanted to delay the vote, including 3rd District representative Kenya Gibson, who said a separate meeting should be held to focus on the budget because it hasn’t yet been given the attention is deserves.
“When it comes to decisions of this magnitude, the devil is in the details,” said Gibson.
6th District representative Shondra Harris-Muhammad agreed with the idea to delay the budget discussion.
“I don’t want poor planning to be an issue,” said Harris-Muhammad about why she supported delaying the vote.
Speaking in opposition of delaying the budget discussion, Superintendent Jason Kamras told the board that almost no changes have been made to the budget that they have had access to for months.
“Every bit of information is fully accessible and available to the public,” said Kamras.
Ultimately, the motion to delay failed with a 4-4 vote.
Tuesday’s school board meeting comes as a group called the Richmond Crusade for Voters calls for Kamras’ removal from his position as superintendent, citing failures to meet goals laid out in his five-year strategic plan, as well as the shootings at George Wythe High School and Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony last year.
