The Richmond School Board is out of compliance with part of its agreement with the state and could lose some state funding if board members do not come together to meet its contractual obligations to attend annual training.
The agreement, called a memorandum of understanding, is in place because of the district’s troubled schools.
State Superintendent Lisa Coons sent a letter to the Richmond School Board on Wednesday to notify its members of their requirement to fulfill annual professional development and training requirements. Emails sent back and forth between School Board members over the past year, and obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, show that the School Board members could not agree on a date to complete their training.
According to Richmond Public Schools’ agreement with the state, noncompliance could result in the loss of some state funding.
If the state superintendent certifies that a local school board has failed or refused to meet any obligations outlined in its contract with the state, the State Board of Education will withhold some or all of its at-risk add-on funding. This is the state’s main funding program for schools with high levels of concentrated poverty.
Richmond Public Schools’ 2024 spending plan budgets $15.5 million in at-risk add-on funding from the state.
This is not the first time the Richmond School Board has been unable to agree on a time to complete mandatory training. The board received its mandatory training from Head Start, a federal early childhood program, during the board’s public meeting last week because members could not agree on a time to meet.
Emails between the Virginia School Boards Association and Richmond School Board members show that Stephanie Rizzi, chairwoman of the School Board, had repeatedly attempted to schedule the training.
After a date was apparently agreed upon and set by the Virginia School Boards Association, one board member said she would not attend because she would be participating in a vow renewal in Las Vegas that weekend.
Rizzi said in an email late last year: “Since we were unable to achieve 100% attendance for November 11, the only possible date for VSBA Board Training left is December 16th. This is mandatory training. Please mark your calendars for December 16th.”
The training did not happen.
The VSBA’s executive director said in an email after several failed attempts at scheduling the training: “We’re here to assist only if your board desires our support.”
The memorandum of understanding says School Board members should be given the opportunity to correct the lapse and, if successful in a timely manner, may have some or all of the board’s at-risk add-on funds restored at the Virginia Board of Education’s discretion.
The School Board’s agreement with the state requires all members of the Richmond School Board and the division superintendent to participate, at a minimum, annually in professional development provided by the Virginia School Boards Association. The training focuses on responsibilities for school improvement or improving student achievement in challenged schools, according to the contract.
The board still has not completed its 2023 training.
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Superintendent Jason Kamras joins the Richmond School Board at John Marshall High School in August 2022 for an emergency meeting to discuss students’ academic performance.
State Superintendent Lisa Coons, seen here on March 19, sent a letter to the Richmond School Board on Wednesday to notify its members of their requirement to fulfill annual professional development and training requirements.