$8.9M gap in RPS's budget
Apparently RPS faces a $8.9M gap in its 2026-2027 budget. The following text is from Anne Holton's Facebook post from a couple of hours ago:
The Richmond School Board has learned that the Richmond portion of the state budget adopted last week was not as robust as we had anticipated. While it represents an increase over prior years, it fell well short of the forecasted amount, resulting in a $8.9M gap in our budget. This is further proof that we need to address the state funding formula that so heavily disadvantages Richmond.
For now, this will mean painful cuts that impact our students, staff and schools. Because we are legally required to have a balanced budget, we must act soon. An agenda item to discuss and possibly act will likely be added to our Board Meetings this week.
Please share your comments in writing as soon as possible by emailing them to aholton@rvaschools.net, or in person at the July 7 business meeting. There are no easy solutions and no simple alternatives, but long-term, we must succeed in advocating for fixes to the inequitable funding formula.
For more info and to see what the Administration has proposed to address the gap for this year, click the link below, scroll to the bottom and click the "BoardDocs" link in the blue box. Then navigate to the document posted under Item 1.05 “Adoption of the Agenda” for the July 6 Meeting here: https://www.rvaschools.net/leadership/rps-school-board
REA posted screenshots of proposed cuts, which are included. You can also find them in the Board Docs files for Monday's meeting under Adoption of the Agenda.
