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Richmond School Board targets test score, graduation rate improvements

Superintendent Kamras leans down as he speaks with School Board member Rizzi before the school board meeting
Shaban Athuman
/
VPM News
School Board Chair Stephanie Rizzi chats with Superintendent Jason Kamras before a Richmond Public School Board meeting on Monday, July 10, 2023 at Huguenot High School.

District officials say meeting 2030 goals will require more investment.

Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras told the new School Board the district is aiming for boosts of 20 percentage points in Standards of Learning test scores and 15 percentage points in the graduation rate by 2030 — goals that RPS officials say require additional funding.

Kamras briefed the school board Monday night in a meeting reconvened after last week’s water outage, laying out targets for the top three goals in the Dreams4RPS strategic plan.

Another goal is to improve the ratings of RPS schools under the state’s new performance grading system.

Ahead of his budget proposals, Kamras said meeting those targets will rely on investments and state funding that it doesn’t have yet: “What has been adopted in this strategic plan, we cannot entirely afford right now.”

Kamras expressed optimism that Democrats in the General Assembly pushing for K-12 education improvements would set aside funding that could help RPS achieve its long-term goals.

An “extremely high bar”

Kamras presented the first draft of Dreams4RPS, a five-year plan laying out 10 goals, last August. On Monday, he said RPS is targeting 20-point test score improvements in all SOL subjects over the course of the plan — raising target SOL scores to 70% for reading, 69% for writing, 63% for history/social studies, 67% for math and 65% for science.

Kamras said achieving a 20-point improvement across the board would be “a lot of work,” but told members he believes Dreams4RPS is the right plan to help the district reach its proposed targets. It would require investments to help teachers better teach “the science of reading,” fill the district’s teacher vacancies and fund infrastructure upgrades.

“It’s really going to be about continuing to remain focused, disciplined on the things that we said we’re going to do and continuing to find the resources to invest to make sure that we’re able to do them,” Kamras said.

RPS also identified having at least 34 schools considered “distinguished” or “on track” under the Virginia Department of Education’s rating system and achieving a 93% graduation rate by 2030 among its “Big 3” goals.

Kamras told the board he would argue Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed budget amendments offer “very limited funding” for schools graded as “off track” or “needs intensive support.” Instead, RPS will have to advocate for funding to reach its goals.

Shannon Heady, of Richmonders for Effective Governance of Schools — a nonpartisan good-governance group that endorsed several winning School Board members — announced the group’s plans to monitor the board’s performance during Monday’s meeting.

“Our focus will continue to be on equitable good governance rather than specific administrative, budgetary, personnel, or policy decisions,” Heady said. “We firmly believe that consistent adherence to good governance practices will lead to a more positive, productive decision-making environment and, most importantly, the best possible outcomes for all RPS students.”

Heady added that REGS will watch the new board's activities, assessing them “relative to objective metrics” and periodically issue “report cards” on how it thinks officials are doing.

“A floor and not a ceiling”

The board also heard a presentation on the budget timeline and how the state's budget process could potentially lead to delays and uncertainty.

Youngkin is proposing $145,000 more for RPS in FY25 and about $5.7 million more in FY26 (which starts July 1 and ends June 30, 2026). That will primarily cover the $5.5 million RPS needs to hire another 55 multilingual learner teachers so it can meet state requirements.

But Kamras noted that the budget process is fluid and state lawmakers will propose budget changes that will have to be voted on and approved. He added that the Democratic statehouse leadership will likely have “more favorable” spending plans for RPS.

“I think we can view the $5.7 million as a floor and not a ceiling from the state,” Kamras said.

Kamras emphasized that the budget he will propose next week “is merely a starting point,” and that they will have plenty of time to weigh in on spending priorities before the board adopts a final budget in June.

Cutting down on meeting times

The board also approved its 2025 meeting schedule Monday and passed protocols limiting presentations from the administration to 5 minutes and discussion on agenda items to 3 minutes — though the board has authority to extend debates on highly-contested topics and proposals.

Stephanie Rizzi, the 5th District representative, said the effort to streamline meetings would benefit staff, security personnel and constituents.

She said the time restrictions could let people “get to go to bed at a reasonable hour and not have to miss any important information,” drawing a smile from Kamras.

The board unanimously approved the meeting protocols, joking about getting home on time. The new rules will be in effect during the board’s next meeting on Jan. 21, members agreed.

Dean Mirshahi is a general assignment reporter at VPM News.