Richmond Schools must make ‘painful reductions’ to 2026-27 budget: Kamras

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Richmond Public Schools (RPS) is making several "painful reductions" to its budget for the 2026-27 school year due to financial strain, including pausing all raises, reducing central office staffing and closing the Richmond Virtual Academy, among others.

RPS superintendent Jason Kamras shared an update on his proposed budget for the 2026-27 school year in a press release issued Thursday, Jan. 22.

In that release, Kamras said that the city's school district is looking at a "difficult budget year," with only modest increases in revenue from both state and city government.

"At the same time, our costs continue to go up — for salaries, health insurance, transportation, and all sorts of contracts," Kamras said. "In addition, many sources of one-time funding — like the state’s All-In tutoring program — have sunsetted."

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This means RPS needs to make "a number of painful reductions" to its budget, including:

• Pausing all raises for one year, though the annual 1.17% step increase will be maintained
• Reducing nearly 50 full-time employees from RPS' central office
• Splitting the amount that health insurance costs have increased 50/50 between RPS and employees
• Closing the Richmond Virtual Academy, a program created during the COVID-19 pandemic that was initially funded with related relief dollars
• Cutting summer school for kindergarten through 8th-grade students
• Reducing RPS' mental health and wraparound support contracts by 30%
• Furloughing all senior staff -- that being directors and above -- for two days
• Furloughing Kamras himself for five days

"I know that these recommendations will be difficult for the RPS family," Kamras said. "Please know that I do not make them lightly. I have agonized over them for several weeks, trying my very best to keep us on solid financial footing while doing everything I can to protect our schools."

Kamras provided some insight into why this squeeze is being felt. RPS gets most of its city-sourced funding from property taxes and, as there is an assessment freeze planned for 2027, "the pie just won't increase very much," he said.

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When it comes to state funding dollars, the General Assembly is "grappling with how to fund Medicaid now that costs were shifted to the states, given actions at the federal level."

"This will also be a year in which advocacy – particularly at the state level – will be critical," Kamras said. "Though Medicaid costs are taking center stage, we need to keep education at the forefront of everyone’s minds."

The 2026-27 budget process is still in its early stages, with the Richmond School Board, RPS' union partners and the RPS community to be given opportunities to share their thoughts before a final budget is passed.

"Together, I know we will find ways to improve upon them in time for the Board to make its final decisions before sending our budget on to the Mayor," Kamras said.

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More details on how feedback can be shared will be released in the coming days, Kamras said.

If you would like more information on RPS' budget, you can find it here. You can also find the budget presentation Kamras shared with the Richmond School Board on Thursday here.