Where are we with City Funding of Schools?

As City Council winds its way through a number of amendments to its budget, 1st District constituents have inquired about where things are with the RPS portion of the budget, including the status of:

• The School Board's request for $1.5 million above flat-funding to provide RPS staff with a 1% one-time bonus
  
• The potential allocation of capital funds for specific school projects not in the School Board's budget (in particular, I've been asked by some of you about the status of funds requested for the Patrick Henry building and Munford's gym)

Regarding the one-time bonus, Council seems to be looking to be equitable by either providing additional funding for both city and school employees or for neither. But do keep in mind that the proposal is for city employees to receive $1,000 each, while RPS employees would get a percentage of their salaries, which would be significantly less than $1,000 for most in RPS. I don't know if the two proposals will become more comparable as discussions ensue.

Regarding amendments to the city budget for capital projects, the School Board is requesting $5.4 million to complete the fourth year of ADA projects across the school district and $4.9 million in Capital Improvement Project funds to complete about 15 of the most critical needs in our old buildings (these are projects like boiler replacements and HVAC systems that must be upgraded after years of use.) Councilman Tyler has amended the ADA budget to provide full funding for the ADA projects needed for next year. However, our overall CIP budget is currently funded at $1.9 million, out of the $5.9 million requested by RPS, which would cause RPS to push some of the critical projects back to future years.

While individual council members have put in amendments for other school-specific projects; I have not seen an amendment for funding for a Munford gym project. I can confirm that there is an amendment being considered for the city to provide $500,000 to fund the renovations of the Patrick Henry building, which was closed by the School Board but sought to be reopened by the PHSSA charter school through private fundraising, Historical Tax Credits, and other external funding streams. (For a more detailed history of that building and all of the RPS ADA projects, see the historical recap below.)

Again, the School Board's capital requests have centered on the high-priority needs to keep our schools up and running for the 11/12 school year. Lighting at Hill; boilers at Ginter Park and Bellevue; water system upgrades at Marshall, Wythe, and Armstrong; air conditioning at Woodville; HVAC upgrades at Wythe, RTC, and Henderson; reconstruction of tennis courts at Henderson, Marshall, and Wythe; and bus loop reconstruction at Fisher are all included on this critical needs list.

I attended Monday's council budget session and will send information about the next sessions over the next few days. While we don't know what may come of these issues yet, we do know one thing: May will bring us a funding number for school operations and school facilities, and your input over the next few days can help guide some key city's decisions about funding for our schools. Thank you for reaching out to be informed on the current status of key budget items.

Kim Bridges

1st District School Board representative

RPS ADA and building actions

2006-2007

• The School Board agreed unanimously to settle a federal lawsuit that sought to bring the Richmond Public School System into compliance with certain disability laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA").
  
• RPS reduced operating costs and capital needs by consolidating schools, rezoning hundreds of students, and reducing the number of inaccessible buildings when it closed Patrick Henry & Whitcomb Court schools
  
• Lower enrollment and high renovation costs were major factors in School Board’s decision to close the PH & WC buildings

2007-2008

§ RPS leased bandwidth to NASCAR and dedicated the $25,000 generated to ADA improvements

§ RPS reduced operating costs and capital needs by consolidating schools, rezoning thousands of students, and reducing the number of inaccessible buildings when it closed Norrell, Norrell Annex, REAL School, and 13 Acres buildings

§ RPS dedicated a $1 million fund balance from the prior year’s budget exclusively to ADA remediation.

2008 – 2009 (Year 1 of ADA work under the settlement agreement)

• City Council appropriated $5 million for ADA projects
  
• RPS completed more than 65 projects in 35 schools
  
• RPS School Board authorized a charter school requesting use of the Patrick Henry building, providing that the reopened school would receive needed ADA renovations through private, tax-deductible contributions and would not cause the School Board to violate its ADA settlement agreement.
  
• RPS reduced operating costs and capital needs by closing the building housing Richmond Community High School (Westhampton building) and relocating the program to the former Chandler Middle School building

2009 – 2010 (Year 2 of ADA work under the settlement agreement)

• $5,000,000 appropriated for 78 projects in 39 schools

2010-2011 (Year 3 of ADA work under the settlement agreement)

• Approximately 154 projects to be completed with $3,112,480 in city funds

2011-2012 (Year 4 of ADA work under the settlement agreement)

• $5,476,596 requested in city funds for 41 proposed projects

In 2012-2013 (Year 5/final year of ADA work for full accessibility at all RPS schools)

• $4,461,923 requested in city funds for 50 proposed projects
  
• RPS will open 2 new, fully compliant elementary schools constructed through the City’s Build A Better Richmond program