Richmond needs new, larger schools

This article was co-authored with Jim Dyke.

The United States Supreme Court has said that providing quality education is the most important responsibility of state and local government. Nowhere today is that responsibility more in need of being addressed than right here in Richmond, and that responsibility falls squarely on the person elected next month as the city’s next mayor.

Here’s a hard reality the mayor will confront: Richmond and those who live in our capital city will find it harder to succeed economically and prosper socially until we dramatically improve Richmond Public Schools. It’s impossible to conceive of a vibrant Richmond without really smart changes to the delivery of teaching and learning in our schools — and the next mayor making improving the schools his or her top priority.

This requires stakeholders to invent a new ethos of possibility: one to make our school system a magnet for all families and income levels and ensure we retain their children from elementary through high school — and that they do not flee to options in, or outside, our capital city. This goal is within our reach if strong action is taken.

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Richmond’s education problems are not all the city’s own making, and city leaders have already been taking important steps. Richmond Public Schools has implemented measures to control costs in its $350 million budget, and the district actually spends fewer dollars on administrators than some similar school districts — so more dollars wind up in the classroom.

We recognize that’s not enough, but the problems are structural and were decades in the making, and cannot be fairly laid only at the feet of current leaders.

There are also good reasons why Richmond spends more money in total — $12,700 per pupil, times roughly 22,000 students — than its peer districts.

Richmond Public Schools serves a higher-need student — 78 percent economically disadvantaged, 88 percent African-American and Hispanic, 18 percent with disabilities, 8 percent with limited English proficiency — and this picture has evolved over time.

Richmond is also disadvantaged by Virginia’s current approach to funding schools. The methods used to determine the state’s level of funding to localities — the Local Composite Index and the Standards of Quality — need to be significantly revised to reflect localities’ ability to pay for education and what’s really needed as the foundational education program provided in every division.

At the same time, we know that other districts make their dollars go farther, delivering better outcomes for students on lower per-pupil spending, despite serving a similar student population.

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Yet none of this should let today’s leaders off the hook for making some tough decisions, and today’s challenges also offer an opportunity to reshape the schools in ways that will benefit today’s students and generations to come.

As multiple studies have shown, most recently an analysis commissioned by Richmond Public Schools, the city of Richmond, and Richmond’s business and funder community, we must change the footprint of Richmond’s schools. Doing so is not easy for anyone but does give us an opportunity to build student and family pride in attractive new and modern schools that send a message to our students about our values and the respect we have for them.

Today, many of Richmond’s school buildings are small, and can be up to twice as expensive to operate per-pupil when compared to larger schools.

Newer, larger schools — that still maintain the low student-teacher ratios that are a hallmark of Richmond Public Schools today — are more efficient and cost-effective to operate. Perhaps more importantly, they give Richmond the opportunity to offer better, broader, and more personalized educational opportunities for every student, with physical space supporting innovative learning.

Ultimately that means more parent and student buy-in to education and better outcomes from the school system. It is not by coincidence that Broad Rock Elementary School and Huguenot High School are two of Richmond’s newest and largest schools — and are not only among the lowest-cost per-pupil, but are also meeting or surpassing state goals for academic performance.

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By drawing students from broader areas, Richmond can also help ensure that its schools are more diverse, fully reflective of our community, and able to serve all students better. The community schools we have now are not inherently worse than other options, but nor are they inherently better. There are other ways to ensure that parents are invested in their local schools and that those schools work for students.

But the bottom line is that today’s school infrastructure is unaffordable and unsustainable for an American city of our type. Richmond can either kick the proverbial can down the road again on some hard choices or seize this moment to invent a better, stronger, and more effective school system.

The decisions are unavoidable and the collateral damage on Richmond schoolchildren and educators from inaction, whether a result of political capitulation or fear of being unpopular, is simply immoral.

The movie “Lincoln” was filmed here in our great city; as the main character said, “the day of reckoning is upon us.” It’s time now for strong executive leadership to step up and address these issues in the best interests for students and our city — and for parents, families, and the community to support them in doing so.