Board Watch 6/14 (& Scorecard!)

Boardwatch
Written By Becca DuVal

Happy Wednesday, fellow board watchers! In case you missed it, the school board had an emergency meeting last night. It was announced within the required three day notice window, but our only clue to the emergency was the budget focused agenda:

For context: yesterday’s KidsFirst blog post discussed how local and state budgets work together to fund the vast majority of public education in Virginia school districts. And while the Richmond school board took their sweet time approving a budget this year - ultimately being finalized and submitted just hours before the city’s final deadline - the man in the red vest must be trying to set a record for longest-delayed state budget approval. This delay is having ripple effects at the local level - which we saw play out last night.

I’m sure all involved would have preferred dry ink on the final Youngkin budget before voting on their last round of RPS budget adjustments - but they were instead forced to work with their “best guess” of the state budget instead. Why? Because employee contracts expire on the 28th - and they NEED to offer contract extensions to all the district’s employees BEFORE that expiration. 

We’ll circle back to employees - but we’re kicking off this week’s Board Watch with the budget adjustment. Here’s the Top 5 Moments from last night’s Emergency School Board Meeting:

#1: RPS falls $512k Short.

The state beefed up some spending, cut some spending, and demanded localities meet some new (important!) funding objectives. You can catch up on details, here. At the end of the day - RPS needed to find an extra $512k for their Operation Budget. The administration suggested EITHER:

  • Move that money out of the CIP budget. (Capital Improvement Plan - aka the money we use to make building repairs and modifications.) The State - for the first time ever! - agreed to help cover facility maintenance expenses, so RPS is expecting a $4.5MM increase to this budget. (Hurray! Thank a state legislator today!) So, while we’d be moving $512K out of this year’s facility investment, we’re still up (way up!) from the original $2.4MM CIP budget approved this spring.

  • Use pandemic relief funds to cover this expense. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) has - per the district’s website - pledged RPS $123MM. In a 3-year plan outlined last year - the district suggested strategic investment - mostly in facility upgrades, and support staff. Last night, the board discussed re-assigning some of this federal pandemic relief money to close the $512K gap, so that the district could avoid making any further cuts to next year’s budget. (Related reading for anyone else interested in why we have unspent COVID relief funds.)

#2: Defenders of CIP

Both Reps Young and Rep Burke objected to cutting from the district’s facility maintenance/repair funds. 

Young, as we noted in our recent post about the Arthur Ashe Center, is very keen on obtaining every dollar he can for school construction and maintenance. Over the last year, he consistently votes and advocates for renovating Woodville Elementary and the former-Altria building - which the district intends to turn into a trade school. (This is also why he wanted to fund a smaller George Wythe replacement - to beef up spending on those two sites.)

Burke, as evidenced by her commitment to a Facility Conditions Assessment, tends to take a wider lens for CIP dollars. Our district - per our superintendent’s May 11 interview on the Gary Flowers Show - has $2B worth of school maintenance and construction needs. Our aging schools are an expensive, escalating problem - and Rep Burke signaled she would not support any cuts to addressing them. Thanks to federal funds and cooperative local governance - we won’t have to! The board votes unanimously to preserve CIP and borrow from ARP funds instead:

#2: Staffing Challenges

While the meeting was budget-focused, we did get a glimpse into the district's staffing woes. 

  • We have been short about 25 bus operators consistently throughout the year. We pay to license commercial drivers (CDL) - and Rep White notes that it’s not uncommon for these newly licensed drivers to leave the district, and use their new credential to take higher paying jobs. The result is students waiting at bus stops, missing instructional time, and causing many undesirable ripple effects for our schools. 

  • Per recent staffing reports, between resignations and retirees, RPS is anticipating losing about 40 employees. Many of the resignations, in particular, are teachers. We won’t know how this retention/attrition data compares - either nationally or to our own past experience - until July. (I’m sort of cheating here because this was discussed at the last meeting, but it’s relevant to the strategies discussed last night.) 

  • Our facility department is under-staffed - causing delays in resolving the ever-growing list of school repairs submitted through the district’s cataloging program, “School Dude.” Hiring for this department is not in this year’s agenda. Sigh.

#3: Hiring Strategies & Successes!

  • The board approved a measure last night to fill bus operator vacancies by increasing their starting pay to $23/hr. This makes RPS the most competitive paying district in central Virginia. Now, let’s hope the city - also facing a shortage of drivers - won’t jump in with a higher salary and compete with their own school system… again. Take pity on us! School districts can’t raise their own funds to compete on salaries!

  • We learned that our increased pay for food service staff led to the hiring of 24 new individuals at a recent job fair. Hopefully this coincides with the return of fresh prepared meals for our students?? Our fingers are crossed!

  • The board also celebrated their work to combat attrition by boosting staff compensation. This includes 5% raises for all contracted staff, 1.17% “step” increase, increase in substitute pay, and a $3,000 bonus for teachers. 

#4: Unanimous Votes

If you’ve followed along with school board recently, you’ve likely noticed a trend of 5-4 votes. Some members have wielded their slim majority to make much of the last year’s policy decisions without the involvement of the board minority. 

But - NOT SO last night. EVERY vote passed unanimously: 7-0. (Reps Doerr and Gibson were absent.) I LOVE to see it. 

#5: It’s about Time

Twenty-six minutes! The whole meeting, multiple agenda items - including flashpoint topics like district budget priorities - took 26 minutes. Everyone came having “done their homework” - with prepared questions to clarify their understanding (and ours, to be honest). The Chair is on a role keeping track of the board’s voting expectations, and nobody got side tracked sharing personal grievances. In fact, when they did briefly deviate from the work at hand, it was to thank one another, the administration, and state lawmakers. 

Saturday’s retreat must have worked wonders on this elected body. (Ordinarily I’d link that meeting for you - but the board opted not to stream it. V disappointing for the nerdiest-among-us who had planned a mimosa watch party.)

ICYMI: We brought back the K.I.D.S. Scorecard in last week’s newsletter. We’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow with a breakdown of board performance. Sign up below if you haven’t already! Here’s your preview:

Becca DuVal

Becca DuVal is a Fox Parent and co-founder of a statewide parent advocacy group for Safe Schools. When not chasing after her three kids or advocating for school equity, Becca can be found caring for her house plants and taking beautiful photos.

http://twitter.com/foxparentrising
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