RECENT COMMENTS
Joel Cabot on Power Outage on the Hill
Eric S. Huffstutler on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
Eric S. Huffstutler on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
Yvette Cannon on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
crd on Power Outage on the Hill
RPS Parents Speak Out! tonight at Peter Paul Development Center
04/21/2016 9:42 AM by John M
Tonight at the Peter Paul Development Center:
RPS Parents Speak Out!
by Richmond ForwardThursday April 21, 2016 6:30 PM
1708 N. 22nd Street,
Richmond, VirginiaDo you want better school buildings for your children? Do you know that you have the power to bring about lasting change? Do you want to become a confident and informed voice for your children?
The Micah Association, Peter Paul Development Center, and Richmond Forward invite you to come out and organize your voices and your pow
Anyone there going to speak on behalf of the taxpayers?
Amen, ann. I’ve about had it with this “give me more..but someone else should pay” mentality in this city.
If Richmond has under-capacity schools, are they being closed and consolidated for the fall? When will this excess real estate be put on the market to be sold?
Until common sense budget cutting measures are in place within RPS, they shouldn’t see another tax dollar.
Jamie, interestingly enough the Virginia Department of Education (and unless the 2015 FY figures were put online within the last few days) FY2014, among school divisions in cities in Virginia, RPS spends the 2nd highest amount per pupil in operating expenses than any other school division – 2nd highest! Almost enough for a year in a private school. And as taxes increase much that Richmond’s won in the last decade stands to be lost. I know of 1 family gone already and 2 more prepping homes to sell. And why not, when taxes are less and services more just across an invisible county line. As for funding, the city has a HUGE untapped steady income stream that sits ignored by council and city administration. There are financial penalties for non-compliance with many city ordinances, kind of like motor vehicle tickets. Richmond simply leaves this money on the table by not enforcing its own ordinances (and keeps passing more and more and more that won’t be enforced). Some will say “There’s not enough staff to enforce ordinances” but these ordinances have been on the books for decades, long before staff and service cuts got really bad. Schools could benefit from these funds, seniors having trouble paying utility bills could benefit from thes funds, etc….but it seems as long as taxpaying residents and businesses keep bending over and saying “hit me again” the city’s going to keep on sucking it out of us.
Investing in the city schools will pay off tremendously in the future. Student who graduate from a healthy school system are an awesome asset to the city and neighborhood (not to mention their families and themselves). Starving the city schools of funds serves no one, and sets up the next generation for failure.
RPS (and most inner city school systems) have numerous challenges that other school systems don’t have, like lack of neighborhood institutions, children from poverty (almost every child gets two meals a day at RPS) and tons of trauma.
Comparing RPS’s budget per student to other school districts without having a more nuanced understanding of the challenges is like comparing apples and oranges.
I’m thankful for organizations like PPDC, Micah Initiative and Richmond Forward that care about the community beyond just their pocketbook.
Mad Dog
When the RPS spends the 2nd highest amount per pupil in operating expenses than any other school division then consolidation of schools that have low attendance should not be a problem. I don’t understand your disagreement with consolidation so that the challenges you speak of can be more effectively addressed.
I am not one that thinks the schools should be addressing this challenges that you speak of though and taking the place of parenting. In the meantime, both of the objectives of limiting tax payer expenses and addressing the challenges of the children’s home life can be addressed through consolidation.
Neighbor
Thanks for the feedback, I agree that school consolidation is a reality in a city of changing demographics, those are painful conversations that require community feedback, but it doesn’t make sense to have a bunch of half-full schools.
I was more reacting to the idea that money invested in the schools is wasted. I think we should invest in the public schools as citizens and for moral reasons, but beyond that, the long term payoff of investing in our youth will be the best thing for all of us in the city.
I would like to recommend that if you believe the schools are over-funded and under-utilized, go visit them. I think you would be surprised.
The funding that is desperately needed doesn’t HAVE to come from taxes. It can come from a change in the tax code for our historical school buildings, or can come from the state legislature by fixing the funding ratio.
There are other options, but we have to demand them from the people who get to make these decisions. Starting with “city schools are expensive so let’s underfund them” doesn’t help our students, city nor state.