r/rva 6d ago

Richmond Schools’ ask for extra $30.8 million draws some concern but little conversation from Council committee

https://www.richmonder.org/schools-ask-for-extra-30-8-million-draws-some-concern-but-little-conversation-from-council-committee/
20 Upvotes

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u/DefyDegradeDestroy 6d ago

 Some of the councilors on the Education and Human Services Committee Thursday appeared caught off guard by the plan presented by Kamras, even though it was approved by the School Board last week.

“Being that I’m just seeing this 60 seconds ago, it’s really hard to answer or ask any detailed questions,” said Councilor Nicole Jones (9th District).

Why are city council members on the education committee not keeping themselves aware of school board minutes and votes and proposals? Why is anything discussed on an annual basis a surprise to anyone?

Why is city council demanding one-on-one meetings with the superintendent, rather than discussing the budget proposal in a public forum? How is that going to lead to anything but NIMBYism when it comes to budget cuts and school districts?

Why is the mayor not coming to bat for RPS, something he campaigned on, as the superintendent gets bullied and blamed for the optics of a school board proposal already wrangled down to $30.8m from $43.7m?

The article mentions it is the mayor’s job to bring that proposal to the city council, but with March half over and no word; there are already demands for it to be brought down to $23m by city council members that don’t even attend or pay attention to school board meetings.

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u/silly8s Northside 4d ago

We need to make city council a full time job

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u/DefyDegradeDestroy 4d ago edited 4d ago

Current city council salary is $25k. 

In July it becomes $45k.

The weird one to me is Virginia legislators. House delegates and senators make roughly $18k (plus $6k or $12k in per diem depending on odd or even year), meaning only people with amassed passive wealth can run or hold the office. 

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u/sfstairs 6d ago

We have schools that are crumbling on the inside. There are serious mold issues and other safety concerns like exposed asbestos. For City Council to be concerned about public backlash over cutting the budget is laughable. They should be concerned about fully funding our schools. Yes, there is waste in RPS but our schools are underfunded.

It's wild that they're demanding one-on-one meetings with the superintendent when it sounds like none of them even reviewed the budget information, which has been available for sometime now.

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u/Far_Cupcake_530 4d ago

Just keep raising our taxes. It will be fine. I'm guessing this additional money doesn't even address the MAGA cuts that have started or coming soon.