In an 8–1 vote, Richmond School Board members voted Tuesday night to extend Superintendent Jason Kamras’ contract with the district through the 2028–29 school year.
A spokesperson for Richmond Public Schools told VPM News the agenda was amended ahead of Tuesday’s meeting to include the resolution and Kamras’ contract.
Kamras has been employed by RPS as superintendent since 2018, serving through the COVID-19 pandemic. In a joint statement, school board members said the decision was made after “careful consideration” — as the majority of members believe Kamras’ continued leadership will continue to bring stability to city schools.
“During Superintendent Kamras’ tenure, RPS has made measurable gains in school accreditation, early literacy, and graduation rates,” the statement said. “These outcomes reflect a foundation we intend to build on in the years ahead.”
However, before the vote, 6th District Member Shonda Harris-Muhammed said she would not simply “go through the motions” and cast the lone “no” vote in the resolution to renew Kamras’ contract.
“I do not see — have seen — major progress that I feel for all students should have occurred,” Harris-Muhammed said. “I am still going to stay 10 toes down for all students regardless of their ZIP code, the people who work for Richmond Public Schools and everyone else who pours into Richmond Public Schools.”
Harris-Muhammed said that schools in the 6th District have not received equitable resources compared to others in Richmond since she joined the board in 2021. (The RPS website lists Martin Luther King Jr. Preschool; Oak Grove–Bellemeade and Overby-Sheppard elementaries; Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and Virgie Binford Education Center as the facilities in Harris-Muhammed’s district.)
Kamras did not respond to Harris-Muhammed’s comments during the meeting.
“This has been and will continue to be the greatest professional honor of my life,” Kamras said after the vote. “We have been through a lot together at RPS — a global pandemic, tragedy, and now a national assault on our very ideals — but we are on the rise.”
Anne Forrester, president of the Richmond Education Association, told VPM News in a statement that while REA will continue to work with the Kamras administration and school board members, it will also continue to “hold them accountable to the support for workers rights they claim.”
Balancing the fiscal 2026 budget
At this week’s school board meetings, Superintendent Kamras presented a revised fiscal 2026 budget (which runs from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026), after Richmond City Council did not approve the district’s full additional funding request.
Kamras gave a disclaimer to the board before his presentation at Monday’s work session, saying it was going to be a “leaner” year for city schools.
Mayor Danny Avula’s proposed FY26 Richmond City budget allocates $248.9 million for RPS, which includes an additional $9.6 million for operating expenses — but is nearly $34 million short of what the district originally wanted.
Kamras’ revised operating budget aimed at balancing the $14.6 million rise in expenditures, while prioritizing the district’s strategic plan, “Dreams4RPS.” It will be offset by a mix of the city’s contribution, state revenue and $13.8 million in cuts (Slide 13 of the presentation).
Despite the reductions, the RPS budget still includes hiring 55 multilingual learner teachers (formerly known as English Language Learners or ELLs teachers), expanded student mentorship programs, raises for care and safety associates to compete with neighboring districts, and a $16.8 million investment in talent in order to honor existing collective bargaining agreements.
As to the planned hiring of several dozen multilingual teachers, Kamras said RPS must commit in order to receive money from the state. But 1st District Member Matthew Percival questioned whether RPS would be able to meet that goal.
“Can you help me sleep better at night?” Percival asked Kamras. “Arguably, half of the state increase is tied to 55 positions for multilingual teachers. That seems a very big ask.”
Kamras said while he couldn’t guarantee that all of the positions would be filled within the next fiscal year, he expressed having “faith and confidence” in Jennifer Blackwell — the district’s director of multilingual learner success.
In order to balance the budget, Kamras said reductions were made to existing line items. The district’s largest decrease of approximately $3.1 million came from proposing the elimination of long-open vacancies. (As VPM News has previously reported, the City of Richmond is required to pass a balanced budget.)
But at both the work and business sessions, members raised concerns about the possible repercussions of removing vacant job postings — and whether that would impact “hard-to-staff” schools or “high-vacancy” schools. School board members also wanted to know how long the district’s vacancies had been in place, as well as the decisions to not hire certain positions.
Kamras said his administration was “careful to eliminate” about 30 positions that would only have a “very small impact” on schools and class size, as well as positions that haven’t been filled either due either pay level or as a result of the labor market.
The superintendent offered to do a full briefing dedicated to staffing, including vacancies, at next month’s meeting.
The list of proposed reductions includes eliminating a vacancy for a junior auditor with a salary of $125,000. 5th District Member Stephanie Rizzi said eliminating that role “did not sit well with her.”
She also expressed concern about the school board working with a proposed reduction in their professional development fund: The revised plan reduces it from $25,000 to $10,000.
“To cut those two items really disturbs me,” Rizzi said. “Our budget is extremely bare bones.”
Five of the eight school board members are new, having been elected in November.
Emmett Jay Jafari of the 8th District, a freshman board member, also shared concerns: “Learning as a crash course matters — not just budgetary issues, but how we arrive at what we are cutting. We need a better understanding.”
On the capital improvements side, the city’s FY26 budget allocates $2.5 million to RPS. Kamras said the district plans to prioritize fire safety and plumbing.
More than half of the CIP funding will go to replacing Richmond Community High School’s roof in the 3rd District.
During March’s meeting, Harris-Muhammed specifically asked for CIP funding to go toward a $1.2 million HVAC replacement at Martin Luther King Jr. Preschool. That is no longer listed in the revised plan.
The Richmond School Board is expected to vote on the amended budget next month.
