By Ronald E. Carrington

The Richmond School Board and Superintendent Jason Kamras struggled at the board’s meeting on Monday to wrap their arms around continuing daunting budgetary tasks and RPS’ potential future financial shortfall.

Mr. Kamras laid out plans to spend $12.5 million that was unused by Richmond Public Schools during the current school year, turned over to the city and is being returned to RPS in City Council’s 2018-2020 budget approved earlier this month.

Mr. Kamras proposed to the School Board that the funds be use for a 2 percent raise for all contracted employees, including to cover increased health care costs, for a total of $5.1 million.

He also proposed hiring five English as a Second Language teachers, nine bilingual support staff and five bilingual counselors, 12 nurses, including some dedicated to supporting students with disabilities, an internal auditor, for a total of $865,000.

Under his plan, another $6.5 million would go toward three new pilot programs to help students with emotional needs and for programs promoting equity in discipline; new athletic equipment; a 10 percent pay increase for bus drivers and monitors; and payments to the pension fund.

School Board member Jonathan Young, 4th District, reacted negatively to Mr. Kamras’ proposal, noting it fails to address the major priority of fixing RPS’ dilapidated school buildings.

“The condition of the system’s infrastructure needs to be addressed,” Mr. Young said. “We should put our money where our mouth is and use some of those surplus dollars for that purpose.”

He suggested that 75 percent of the money be used for facility maintenance and improvement, while the remainder should help bridge funding gaps in other priorities.

School Board member Kenya Gibson, 3rd District, agreed with Mr. Young.

“We need to go to City Council and Mayor (Levar M.) Stoney and advocate for what is truly needed for a fully funded operating budget,” she said.

Board members Cheryl Burke, 7th District, and Linda Owen, 9th District, also urged their colleagues to establish a closer relationship with City Council members. They also urged City Council to mindfully weigh, evaluate and consider future RPS funding.

The School Board and City Council will attend a quarterly meeting of the Richmond Education Compact with Mayor Stoney at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 31, in the auditorium of the Richmond Public Library’s Main Branch, 101 E. Franklin St. The meeting is open to the public.

The board expects to vote on Mr. Kamras’ proposal at its next meeting, Monday, June 4.

Last year, the previous school administration surprised and angered teachers, parents, school advocates and public officials when former Superintendent Dana Bedden announced an $8.3 million surplus in the schools budget. Scores of individuals, organizations and schools advocates had been battling for more money for RPS for years, only to be told no more money was available.

Now, in an effort to assess and manage spending and to improve operations, Mr. Kamras announced at the meeting that he hired The Council of Great Schools, a coalition of 70 of the nation’s largest urban school districts, to conduct an audit of RPS, looking specifically at expenditures, operating practices and organizational structures.

TCGS will start this month and provide an initial report in July. At a cost of $30,000 paid for by the private Education Fund, TCGS will analyze systemwide academic achievement, opportunity and rigor, teacher qualifications, culture and climate as well as funding, Mr. Kamras said.

Additionally, their final work, to be conducted during the 2018-19 school year, will examine inequities within and between schools, including by race and ethnicity, income level, student abilities and disabilities and English as a second language, he said.

The School Board also learned that it will cost an estimated $26,000 to rename J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School. Located on Fendall Avenue in North Side, the school is the only one in RPS named for a Confederate.

Mr. Kamras said the total includes $10,000 to change the etched stone façade on the elementary school, $4,000 for a new bronze plaque; $2,500 each for a sign in front of the school and a new marquee; $2,000 each for mats, stationery, business cards and T-shirts with the new name; and $500 each for a banner and office supplies.

Recently, the City of Petersburg renamed and rebranded three elementary schools named for Confederates. Their cost: $18,135 total. Private donors stepped forward and covered the cost in Petersburg. Mr. Kamras said RPS would be open to private donors helping defray the cost to change the school’s name in Richmond.

The board, which held Monday’s meeting at J.E.B. Stuart Elementary, has been holding public forums seeking suggestions for the school’s new name. While 16 people spoke at the first forum on May 9, only one person spoke at Monday’s meeting.

Wanda Stallings, a Jackson Ward developer who attended Stuart Elementary, said she would like the school to be renamed for former Judge Willard H. Douglas Jr., a Virginia Union University and Howard University Law School graduate who was elected as the first full-time African-American judge in Virginia in 1974. He sat on Richmond’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. Judge Douglas lives in North Side.

Suggestions for a new name for the school may be presented at the School Board’s meeting 6 p.m. Monday, June 4, at City Hall, 900 E. Broad St., 17th floor. People also may submit suggestions on the RPS website, www.rvaschools.net.

The board is expected to vote on renaming the school at its June 18 meeting.