Join REA in Calling on RPS for a Needs Based Budget and an Audit!
Richmond City School Board
We are deeply disappointed in the FY27 Budget that RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras presented on Thursday, January 22nd. Superintendent Kamras is proposing drastic budget cuts that will deeply harm every corner of the RPS community. RPS will be receiving an increase in funding this year from both levels of government, and overall underfunding concerns do not excuse budget mismanagement. We know that Virginia Code § 22.1-92 requires superintendents to propose a needs-based budget that fully encapsulates the NEEDS of a school division. Jason Kamras did not propose a budget that meets this legal requirement. By preemptively cutting worker contracts and eliminating positions, Superintendent Kamras is undercutting RPS staff and the RPS community.
The proposed budget includes:
Increasing healthcare costs for staff members by over 50%, including cutting vision insurance;
Laying off almost 50 full-time staff positions;
Reducing mental health and wraparound services for students by 30%;
Eliminating all raises unionized workers won in collectively bargained contracts while administration gets 2% raises;
Spending increases for purchased goods and third-party contracts that are overwhelmingly not student facing.
While other school divisions with collectively bargained contracts are returning to the bargaining table to renegotiate contracts due to budgeting shortfalls, the Richmond School Board recently amended its collective bargaining resolution to ensure educators would NOT have a voice in the funding decisions that will affect their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Even with the raises that the union fought so hard for, Richmond educators are already paid well below the national average. For some RPS staff, the pay increases meant that they could go from having 4 jobs to just 2. We anticipate that RPS will likely have difficulty retaining and attracting workers given the funding cuts. We believe that all students deserve a high-quality education from licensed, experienced, and respected educators. That sentiment is not matched in this budget.
REA has significant concerns about the way the budget is written and the lack of transparency in the way the funds are spent by RPS administration. To that end, we are demanding that RPS be audited by the Virginia Department of Education and Richmond City, so we can all get a clear and transparent understanding of the way funds are spent in RPS.
A budget is a document that reflects an administration’s priorities, and we are ashamed and disappointed in the priorities that are presented in this budget. RPS’s motto is “to Lead with Love,” and that love seems to have been forgotten by the administration when creating this budget.
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To:
Richmond City School Board
From:
[Your Name]
We are deeply disappointed in the FY27 Budget that RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras presented on Thursday, January 22nd. Superintendent Kamras is proposing drastic budget cuts that will deeply harm every corner of the RPS community. RPS will be receiving an increase in funding this year from both levels of government, and overall underfunding concerns do not excuse budget mismanagement. We know that Virginia Code § 22.1-92 requires superintendents to propose a needs-based budget that fully encapsulates the NEEDS of a school division. Jason Kamras did not propose a budget that meets this legal requirement. By preemptively cutting worker contracts and eliminating positions, Superintendent Kamras is undercutting RPS staff and the RPS community.
The proposed budget includes:
-Increasing healthcare costs for staff members by over 50%, including cutting vision insurance;
-Laying off almost 50 full-time staff positions;
-Reducing mental health and wraparound services for students by 30%;
-Eliminating all raises unionized workers won in collectively bargained contracts while administration gets 2% raises;
-Spending increases for purchased goods and third-party contracts that are overwhelmingly not student facing.
While other school divisions with collectively bargained contracts are returning to the bargaining table to renegotiate contracts due to budgeting shortfalls, the Richmond School Board recently amended its collective bargaining resolution to ensure educators would NOT have a voice in the funding decisions that will affect their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Even with the raises that the union fought so hard for, Richmond educators are already paid well below the national average. For some RPS staff, the pay increases meant that they could go from having 4 jobs to just 2. We anticipate that RPS will likely have difficulty retaining and attracting workers given the funding cuts. We believe that all students deserve a high-quality education from licensed, experienced, and respected educators. That sentiment is not matched in this budget.
REA has significant concerns about the way the budget is written and the lack of transparency in the way the funds are spent by RPS administration. To that end, we are demanding that RPS be audited by the Virginia Department of Education and Richmond City, so we can all get a clear and transparent understanding of the way funds are spent in RPS.
A budget is a document that reflects an administration’s priorities, and we are ashamed and disappointed in the priorities that are presented in this budget. RPS’s motto is “to Lead with Love,” and that love seems to have been forgotten by the administration when creating this budget.