All right, Madam Clerk, we have got quorum.

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And Madam Chair, all members of the committee are in attendance today, and you do have a quorum.

All right, Madam Clerk, thank you so much.

Um we're gonna move right on into public comment period and then our first presentation.

Public comment is now open.

Is there anyone present who wishes to address this committee regarding items not on today's agenda?

Madam Chair, seeing none and no one signed up to speak virtually before the 10 a.m.

Bant line, the public comment period, it's now closed and back to the committee.

All right, committee members, we're gonna roll through the we're gonna do it's called a rocket docket today.

If anybody of you have ever um been in been across the read at the General Assembly, because it is snowing, I'm gonna try to get us on out of here in under an hour.

It's blizzarding now.

Um, all right.

So we've got our first update from RPS, and I see our wonderful new COO in the house.

Hello, welcome.

Um, to talk about the maintenance part of the facilities and maintenance planning report.

Good afternoon.

Uh my name is Patrick Harrell.

Uh, I'm the chief operating officer for Richmond Public Schools, and I was asked to speak a little bit about our facilities planning.

Um, I'm not sure.

Is this does this advance the slide?

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Um, okay, so three things that we were asked to discuss today.

We wanted to talk about the facilities condition assessment overview, the capital improvement project overview that we have, and an overview of our maintenance work and the progress that we've been making there.

So to begin, I want to start with the facilities condition assessment.

As you all know, uh, about a year and a half ago, we consider uh completed a comprehensive assessment of our current facilities.

For every one of those facilities, we had an outside firm go through, look at the useful life, the current lifespan, and estimate what the large projects were that we would need to be completed.

Um, when that was completed in 2024, they identified uh about $7 million in urgent capital needs for that year, and then they projected likely deferred maintenance costs into the future.

For this year, they identified over $36 million.

The following year it was almost 40 million dollars.

And so you can see all of the ways that the deferred maintenance that we have experienced has been catching up to us.

The other thing that I wanted to point out from this slide is that there is, even though the funding for our capital projects comes from a different ultimate source than our operating budget, the two are very connected because for every time we do not get money to do a large capital project.

Imagine, for example, on a wet day like today, if we have not been able to update a roof from capital money, today that leads to more leaks in that roof, which comes from operational dollars.

So even though they are two distinct pools of money, I think one way that we think a lot about it is every time we can't do a large capital project, we know that that is going to increase the pressure on our operational dollars for the ongoing maintenance that we have overall.

Is your um is your CIP threshold 150,000 or more?

Or what's the CIP?

What's the dollar amount that differentiates CIP versus operating?

You mean when we can account for something as a capital improvement project versus to my knowledge, we haven't identified a strict line.

The way I've interpreted it is because the capital dollars come from the city based on debt obligations, we should be using that toward long-term projects.

thousand dollars or more or what's the CIP what what what's the dollar amount that differentiates CIP versus operating you mean when we can account for something as a capital improvement project versus to my knowledge we haven't identified a strict line the way I've interpreted is because the capital dollars come from the city based on debt obligations we should be using that toward long-term projects so a project that could last 10 15 years or more rather than a repair which doesn't guarantee that long term lifespan but I've I've not seen at a specific articulation of a dollar threshold uh as it relates to capital improvement plan annual budgeting we put forward as you all know a little over a 10 million dollar request to the city but knowing that we were expecting to receive closer to two and a half million dollars on this slide I have what our most highly prioritized items are based on a combination of assessments that is a combination of the highest and most urgent needs the highest cost to our operational budget for the items if we do not replace them as well as what we're seeing in terms of enrollment trends although frankly because we don't have enormous money for new construction we end up having to pretty aggressively triage the highest need and highest impact items.

The second slide gives additional if we were to get more than two and a half million dollars some of the additional projects that we would be interested in using additional money beyond the two and a half million dollars for ultimately of course this is part of the budgeting process and is certainly not yet finalized but want to do it at least share our initial thinking the last piece that I wanted to share with you was our 10 year roofing schedule maintenance schedule I think one of the things to point out that you will see very quickly is this is an unrealistic roof replacement schedule.

I'll point you for example to Armstrong high school replacing that roof alone is over three and a half million dollars and if we are to expect two and a half million dollars per year for the next several years there is no year during which we would be able to replace the Armstrong roof and so we want to have this we want to be as proactive as we can but we also recognize that we need to be subject to the budget that we have available I also wanted to share there were there were questions around how our annual replacement value compares to the operating dollars that we put in all told uh so this year for example we uh have about six and a half million dollars dedicated to our annual operating dollars for maintenance I have uh next year's projections in our proposed budget uh that is obviously not final one of the things that you'll find out really quickly is when you look at the six and a half million dollars that we commit compared to the five million square feet of space across our 52 buildings that means that we are typically sinking between 0.7 and 0.8% of our budget into operations and preventative maintenance.

When you look at industry standard it is typically significantly higher than that but that's not been within our our realistic budget.

Is that does that have anything to do with the sheer number of buildings that we have to maintain I think it's I'm sure it's part of it.

I'm sure it's also primarily driven by the age of those buildings.

But there's 52 of them not 52 schools 52 buildings 52 buildings for how many students?

22000 students.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

We also uh a couple months ago we instituted a maintenance prioritization system recognizing that our operational dollars are limited so we put together a high medium and low priority item high priority items are health life and safety items so very broadly there anything that could impact negatively the student experience the student safety or be an issue that causes long-term implications for our infrastructure so you can imagine something like a giant roof leak not only does that interrupt instruction but it could also if not addressed lead to enormous costs if we do not address it and so those are high priority items we set a performance standard of addressing those concerns within two business days within 48 hours I've I have more information later on that and then lowering expectations around the timeline for our medium and low priority requests.

Like I said it's about six and a half closer to 6.3 million overall in our operational dollars about 4.3 of that is left over for is put towards preventative maintenance leaving $2 million for remaining unanticipated needs.

When you do the simple math on that that means we have about $170,000 per month for those unanticipated requests that could be something like a leak that the wet weather today causes.

And so, councilwoman Lynch, I see your face.

You can see how quickly we can go through that money because it is very little compared to the age of our facilities that we face.

A little bit more about our high, medium and low priority, but I won't uh belabor this point.

Uh we we have some examples of what high medium and low priority uh is and what we've done to try to create more transparency with the requesters so they can understand what the timeline they can expect for resolution of these items.

Uh I have for the last three months all of the facilities requests that we've getting gotten.

So as you can see from November, December, and January combined, we received a little under 2,000 total requests by different priorities.

The emergency priority is one that we are phasing out.

It was an old uh system that we used.

We're moving strictly to the high, medium, and low priority of those almost 2,000 requests, about 75% were completed.

About uh little uh 23% have yet to be completed.

Uh, I also wanted to include our uh completion times.

I saw a question specifically about the response time versus the completion time.

As you can imagine, for something like an HVAC system, a chiller that is completely down.

That is something that we need to respond to and try to address as best we can.

But often the parts, an outside vendor is required, and so we know we can't truly resolve all of these, especially high priority items because they are typically large items.

And so our response time is the way that we calculate are we able to get to the school, address the immediate needs in a triage sense, and then completion time speaks to when it was finalized and completed as and tracked in our system as fully completed, whether that required outside vendor support, an additional part or other activities.

And then this also shows the request by type, and you can see Carpentry Electrical, HVAC, and roofing are by far our largest uh issues.

And then I also put here just a pure count of all of the requests during the three-month period that we received by school, and not surprisingly, a school like Albert Hill that is over 100 years old is very high in that list.

Interestingly, you'll also notice there are some schools that are significantly newer, school like Huguenot falls very high on the list.

That is a combination of it is a very large building, it is a very full building, it is a very well-utilized building, including by the community, and so all of those you would expect more uh drivers, but there are also uh issues that we have with the HVAC system that we're trying to remediate as well.

Do you think this is like is there a confounding variable happening here and you guys would know better because you know all your principles?

Like, are some uh are some maintenance and facility staff just more diligent so they're reporting more, or is this truly reflective of the need of the building?

Yes, I think you're right to assume that part of this is driven by how aggressive the team is in submitting these requests.

Um and so I I think that is totally fair.

We require that a principal or a crew chief on the custodial team are the two people that have access to submit these requests so that we have a common system and a common way to speak back and forth with folks.

We do that also to try to limit if we have an HVAC issue.

We don't want 32 tickets for each one of the classrooms.

We want one saying our heating and cooling is not working.

So we try to limit that as much as possible, but certainly there are people that that request more frequently than others for sure.

Um those were the main items that I wanted to review.

I see that Superintendent Camris is here, so I'll let him speak if he has anything else he wanted to add.

Good afternoon, uh, Madam Chair, council members.

Uh my apologies for my tardiness.

I had a uh dab responsibility I was attending to.

Um, but happy to be here.

Thank you, Mr.

Hurl, for sharing all this information.

I just wanted to express gratitude to uh counsel for the uh CI the proposed uh CIP allocation this year.

I know was submitted by uh the mayor, but it's before you all now.

And so looking forward uh to discussing that and um you're to put those dollars to use.

I actually did want to clarify, if I may, that um I know we we've often used 2.5 million as a ballpark for what you'd expect.

And I just want to make sure I understand the mayor's proposed budget.

He described yesterday as front loading, which um, and then he said then and said nine million dollars for CIP.

So that would suggest that you know you your presentation had millions, you know, 14 million or so, or I forget what it was of CIP needs.

And so you would be able to address nine million of it with that proposed budget versus only two and a half.

That's that's what the proposal proposed budget is is offering you.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Um in the out years.

Um in the out years, um, I haven't looked at it just yet, but it is a likely a smaller amount since it is front loaded.

But um I think it was a very good faith effort on the part of the administration to help us address critical needs right now, and then we'll do our best to figure out things in in the out years.

Yeah.

So that this is kind of a very technical question.

Um the the funding that we're giving you all for maintenance, that comes out of the same.

Um this question.

Does that come out of the same pot of 150 million dollars that we use for new school buildings, or is what this is an administration question, or is what we're allocating to you in addition to the to that pot of money, the school, I call it like the mills tax money.

Yeah, so there's two separate pots.

One is actually 200 million for new school construction.

Um that is largely going to the new Richmond High School for the Arts, and we'll go towards the new CTE center on Maury Street.

Separate from that is an annual CIP maintenance uh allocation, it's typically been about 2.5 million a year.

And so if we wanted to create, because I I mean, this is the conundrum is right, like you all are trying, I mean, you live this every day.

I mean, you all are trying to figure out and find the balance between maintaining our ailing buildings, figuring out simultaneously which ones make sense to prioritize for new building, new construction, um, while us keeping you know the the bubblegum duct tape, you know, from from keeping the boat afloat, basically, um, all the boats, and you all only have two and a half million dollars to kind of do that short-term like patchwork maintenance with what's the right, I mean, are you all when you all come up with your you know plan, like the ultimate plan that's going to be revealed that will have the longer term kind of facilities plan on it?

Are you all kind of contemplating what makes sense from a like what makes sense to take off our roles, build new construction, rehab?

Because clearly, like this is not enough money to we know that it's not enough money to maintain the four is it 44 schools?

We have 52 buildings, but 42 44 occupied school buildings.

Is that correct?

I think that's accurate, yes.

Okay, so we need to basically figure out like in your facilities plan, we we would expect to see an analysis that says this building is just gonna keep, I mean, we're just it's just too expensive to keep online.

We need to either build a new one of these buildings or figure it out long-term, what we do, like in the in totality with 44 of the these like are you guys gonna look at kind of that balance between and then give us a better number?

I mean, what's your number?

What's your annual once you come up with that analysis?

I mean, what do you think a better pot of capital improvement funding?

I'm sorry, patchwork maintenance funding would be out of that CIP every year.

Short answers your question is yes, that is what we hope to achieve with the plan to articulate what needs to be rebuilt, what can be renovated, what we can reasonably consolidate if possible.

Um, but obviously it's complicated given where students are, where we're growing, where we're not growing, um, how much it's going to take to maintain a particular building, uh, and so on.

So, yes, we will do our best to articulate that ultimately.

You know, the other piece of this, quite frankly, is well, let me step back.

I don't think the city will ever have enough money to do everything that is needed for our buildings.

And that is true of many localities across the commonwealth, which is why um there is a role for the state to play here, and things like the school construction assistance program, which has been funded over the last several years, has been very helpful to us.

And so we continue to advocate at the state level for infusions of those dollars.

In addition, we believe the 1% sales tax referendum, which would go to school construction, uh, will be approved uh within the next 36 hours or so and ultimately make its way to the governor, and Governor Spanberger has indicated uh that she would sign that, which would then come to council to authorize a referendum, and cautiously optimistic that the voters of Richmond would approve that.

That would be a new very powerful source of school construction and modernization funding, and I think really is our pathway to addressing a lot of these needs.

I'm extremely hopeful that the school modernization and the sales have both those paths.

I don't that'll be a um phenomenal thing for for you all and for localities.

Council member Jones.

Hey, thank you.

Um nice to meet you.

Tell me a last name again.

Ha.

Harold.

Harold, nice to meet you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Uh-huh.

And welcome aboard.

Um, I think uh the I don't know if it's a question or more of a comment, but I think I would be uh interested in seeing as you all are looking at, as Ms.

Lynch mentioned, like what schools you know are doing what, where what is the top priority?

Um I think it would also be helpful to see maybe some sort of prioritization.

I mean, I think because I'm just gonna address the elephant in the room, right?

We're about to build a hundred or whatever that million dollar innovation tech center for, and then we come back and say we got schools that we barely can't even open.

So I would like to really understand what the focus for the future of the public schools are because we're building new schools, and don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, and our kids deserve everything that they get, but I'm not as I don't fully always understand why we would go to something new, but then keep saying we can't address what's already here.

So I really would be interested in getting a clearer picture.

Um, because honestly, uh we all know, like you said, it's hard consolidating, closing.

Some of that is easier said than done, and the folks that are always talking about closing and consolidating aren't the ones that have to deal with the overcrowding and population that we are already struggling with.

So I think I would really just want to see and work with you know you all in some sort of prioritization because where are these kids going, right?

What kids are going to the new innovation center?

It's not like it's going to relieve pressure off of overcrowded buildings.

So I think I'm just trying to really process and digest what the future looks like, which should be helpful, hopeful, because we should have the best, but I'm not also sure about where all of how this is going to affect every Richmond Public School student.

And I just have to be honest, from where I sit, and I'm just saying that from an outside looking in and someone who served on school board.

Yes.

Um, thank you, Councilmember Jones.

I actually do think the CTE Center project is one that will affect a lot of kids around the school system.

And I would encourage members to not think of this as a new school, but rather replacing Richmond Technical Center, which no longer meets the needs of frankly 21st century preparation for our students.

So it's not as if we're um creating a new program out of thin air, we're gonna replace that.

And I think there's a real opportunity, and we've talked about this with this committee before, to figure out some public-private partnership with that property, the RTC property, which frankly is one of the most ideal properties for development in the city of Richmond, right off of 95, 1954.

Um, and so as we think about best use of land and figuring out ways to support our construction needs, I think that's a that's a key piece to that puzzle.

And again, it's gonna draw kids from everywhere.

So it is actually one of the projects that won't impact just one neighborhood, but all the neighborhoods across Richmond.

Yeah.

So I yeah, thank you for that.

But I think maybe like maybe I didn't I miss wasn't maybe as clear.

I understand the concept of the technical and moving it from over there, and that is still kids coming from different schools.

That does not relieve the pressure though of the overcrowding in schools.

And then when we're thinking about new construction or land, there are schools that once they close at three o'clock, nothing's being done on them, right?

And so I'm trying to think of what is the best and highest use of our school land and property that we could potentially be using to benefit the whole.

And I think when we talk about, yes, it is going to be a new technical center, and there's going to be a few, not many, right?

I mean, we'll have a many it can serve now because the technical one doesn't necessarily meet what we want it to meet.

But again, we're still not talking about a whole school building.

We're talking about students from different schools going to there.

So that's yes.

It does not relieve overcrowding, say um at Reed Elementary.

I didn't say it you did, but at the same time, but I'm also thinking across the river as well.

I'm saying there will be kids coming from over there as well.

So if you're saying that there's not a lot of students on that side of the river, you're still pulling kids that are it's not necessarily making up the balance.

Right.

And they're um it will not be its own school.

It will be uh a program where kids come and go, but it it's more than a few kids.

It will be thousands.

I do think council member, and I was gonna make this point too about like the enrollment projections because and and when we when we're saying the elephant in the room, like those of us on the south side, like Westover, Reed, um, River City, Lucy, like these are these are schools that are constantly like bumping up against their enrollment thresholds.

We know the population is growing south of the river.

So we do we need we need new schools.

We need larger, I mean, that's why you know when we went through the um tussle with George with School in the Arts.

I mean, we really held up um and and got, you know, in, you know, we we were advocating for a bigger, larger school.

Um, and that was to accommodate for that growth.

And so when we look at like this larger facilities plan, we got to look, we gotta look at, you know, where where can we build larger schools that accommodate that larger enrollment?

If it means that, I mean, I'll be assassinated on the sidewalk for saying this, but if it means, you know, looking at Swansboro and Blackwell Elementary School who are right next to each other and and having to have that really tough conversation.

And but it means that we get a bigger larger school out of it that accommodates the growth for those for for our community south of the river, then you know, maybe that's the right conversation to have, but we need those options on the table.

And we I know I know I know council member Jones is that, but we at least need to have the analysis on the table and and have the enroll and know what we're looking at for enrollment and know what we're looking at for the buildings, like okay.

If we don't do that, what's the cost of it, right?

So, like we at least have a we can have the discussion and know the numbers and and have a have a good, well-informed discussion with the community and get community input about that.

Councilmember Bretton, anything else before we move on?

Thank you all so much.

We appreciate the work that you're doing.

We would give you, we would give you all the millions of bajillions of dollars if we could us up here, but we could grow it.

Um, but we appreciate you all coming down.

Okay, our next um update.

Um superintendent cameras, you can you can get out of your update since we already we already covered, unless you want to come back.

Our next update is from um our DCAO, Dr.

Amy Popovich.

Come on, come on.

Good afternoon, almost spring.

Uh uh March 12th here, um, Madam Chair and members of council.

Uh, I've got two updates here.

Um, one just wanted to give an update on our parks and recreation master plan.

Uh we presented to you in uh November about the summary of all the community engagement that's happened.

So here's a brief update since December 19th when we posted the 90% baked plan.

Uh so we've been to eight different community meetings and engagement sessions.

Uh, we've got one more in Seventh District Council next week.

Uh, that's 254 residents in person.

Uh, and then the online draft has been reviewed by 1,600 people with 170 comments.

So we're um glad for all of that review.

Um, so that that period is closed, it closed on March the 6th.

So now the team is busy reviewing and we'll spend about the next month till the 15th of April um reviewing it and really finalizing that draft, and then it will become we'll start the legislative process and come before you in late May, early June.

So that's the update on the on the plan.

We hope to finish it this fiscal year.

We're very excited about it.

Uh the second one is on Teen Summit.

Um, so many of you may be familiar with the Teen Summit, but it's one of those regional events that we do that um really highlights and focuses for our teens.

Um, an example of how we can all come together.

Uh, we had a a thousand teens register in two hours.

Um, so registration closed really quickly.

Um, but that's because they were ready and excited to sign up.

Uh, and we are in our fourth year now.

Um, so the invitation is also extended to you all if you want to come this Saturday to be able to see how this event works and and the connection there.

There's you always have to make a plug for volunteer opportunities.

You can contact Jackie Hale for volunteer opportunities.

And this really is linked to a couple of different kind of ongoing year-long based youth work, like our youth council through Office of Community Wealth Building.

All right, those are my announcements.

Thank you so much.

And just for the committees edification, we we are going to be getting kind of our standard after action review report on the homeless shelter closing and transition during our April EHS meeting.

And so if we have questions or anything, um, yes, if we have questions or anything, um make sure we submit it beforehand.

Um Amy, we talked about this last um last week, and and I had then I see him walking in right on time.

Um we had talked about this last week, and um wanted to make sure that we covered the funding formula update, um, and and wanted to um query our CAO, our Eva, and and you you all, and we have two of our members that um run that original work group and just kind of get a sense of where that work stands, what what has been done, what we plan to do in the future, all that all that good stuff.

Yeah, thank you for that question and appreciate the preparation.

So we can introduce the CAL.

Well, good afternoon committee.

Uh, thank you for allowing me to come before you and give you that pertinent update.

Uh, first, I will just start by thanking y'all for being participants and helping lead the charge when we originally got together with our partners from RPS to begin the process of developing a funding source.

And as you know, I think we did a lot of great work.

We exchanged a ton of information, and what we decided at that time is that utilizing the current uh growth model that we have, where the city has a formula in which it grows, RPS also grows.

And so that is the process for which we use for this uh particular budget cycle.

And for the edification of the public, of course, you leaders know this because you participated and helped lead the charge.

But the reason uh that we did that this year is because we're in that one year tough budget cycle to align the assessments.

So it was both prudent, it ensured we had the level of resources, and as you can see, based on their ask and what we provided, it was almost a perfect fit.

But the goal is to get back together this summer and really perfect it and see if we have the right model or if there's another opportunity for us to kind of crunch a little bit more to do a more apples to apples comparison.

So for right now, I think the model that uh in your wisdom you have used previously is the model that we use this year, the percentage that we grow, so does RPS.

And we provided those funds.

I think it was $8.2 million in growth for this year, and then moving forward for the following years, we'll uh adjust accordingly with their input.

Okay, thank you so much for that update, Ms.

CL.

But I have a quick question, and this is self of um a little off, but um is pertaining somewhat to the cold refresh and this funding formula.

Like how are we um I guess planning for the continued growth?

Because it feels like we're doing the cold refresh and then looking at schools when the schools are already overcrowded and we're trying to give more money to support it.

I think something is a little we should be looking.

So I just want to know.

Excellent question.

I think the timing, you know, is which comes first, the chicken or the egg, right?

And so in this instance, you do have some growth, but we also have to look at the real estate model that the schools is using as well as our capital investments and align them all in the same way that we did the uh the assessment and make sure that all of those things align.

We have some increased affordable housing investments that is increasing the number of students that'll be in certain districts and things of that nature.

So we have to consider that.

I think that's why kind of in his wisdom, this collaborative task force wanted to make sure that we had an answer for this year, because only one time will we be aligning the assessment, but also only one time will we be able to look at our capital investments, our change in the affordable housing uh uh legislation that you guys so prudently put together, and all of these other factors.

And so the hope is that this summer we're aligning it appropriately.

So again, that model that we have does work, is worked in other jurisdictions, and I think it's the in this instance status quo means growth model, when the city grows, so does RPS.

Well we have not really been able to frame appropriately is what happens when we have the opposite, when things are negative, what happens that way, and how do we insulate schools, which is our biggest economic development driver?

And so that piece I think we need a little bit more time to figure out.

And so, in the wisdom of the group for which you two were leaders, I think we decided to look at uh this summer as the best opportunity to not harm schools, not harm the city, everybody grows together because we know what the numbers are, and then if we have all of the correct information, we'll be able to address it.

But your your question is right on point because we have to consider all of those things.

Yes, so that's gonna come this summer with and we'll have more information because we would have gone through the cycle, our assessments will be in place, collection schedule is the same, all of those things will align.

So it'll be a lot, it won't be perfect.

Let me be honest about that.

There'll still be information coming in, but instead of 50% of the information will be operating at about 7580.

That's a pretty good start.

That's better than where we are now.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

That any of the things.

Oh, okay.

Go ahead.

And maybe it's premature for me to ask this question, but I heard when the city grows, the school's funding will grow.

Are we imagining that the formula will primarily be based on some portion of our tax revenue growth?

Or are we imagining that it will also be you know multiplied by some function of the number of children in the city?

Like if we happen to have a population boom in a in a particular shape, are we trying to go that far?

Or are we trying to keep it more um simple and clear related to just our our so I like simple and clear?

I don't make all the decisions though, but I would prefer and I'm gonna advocate for simple and clear because it allows us to all be on the same page.

Also have to make sure the schools, you know, is accountability works both ways, right?

And so they have to make some of those decisions as well.

We can't make them off on their behalf.

And so I think having a searing uh a simple and clear model will ensure that you know that joint account accountability that's in place right now remains.

But there's some tweaks to it because as you mentioned, and as uh council member Jones alluded to, as population grows in certain sectors and nodes of the city, we have to be able to respond to that appropriately.

And as I was mentioning, we have to look at how we're using our real estate mix as well.

So I think the summer gives us the time to be able to do that.

Um so did we have so I know you sent us um council member Jones reminded me of this.

You sent us a memo by because we had like a October 15th deadline for the resolution, right?

And so there is a you did send us a memo around that time.

Yes, um, that basically gave us an update what you're sharing right now.

Yes, ma'am.

Beyond that, did we have do we have or can we have um a document that is public facing that lays out just kind of what you've said, right?

Because I do think there is some confusion.

Even I had a, I'm gonna admit, had a hard time recalling exactly.

Oh, there's no problem.

Um, and so it might be helpful to to come to either make public a memo and/or like a one-pager that kind of lays out here's where we were, here's where we are with the funding formula.

I absolutely thought and was under the assumption that the um the funding, the both the funding formula, which reflects what you just shared about our growth being um commiserate to the school board, I mean school boards, the RPS's budget growth.

I absolutely thought that that was the consensus that we all came to.

Um, what exact percentage that was, I'm failing to remember.

But if you can share that with me, great.

Um but it and I do remember us having a lot of conversation about the assessment year and wanting to insulate them.

Yeah.

Um I so I I feel like us on our we did the homework, right?

We've done the okay, we have done the red, we've we've completed the at least this the the resolution the mayor has included in the spirit of the funding formula in and that's why we've seen the but his budget increases, right?

Um can we can we memorialize that somewhere so that the public know and our school board co-patriots know understood?

So now the timing, I mean, because you know we we're juggling a few things.

What I would let me make sure so I can commit to something that we can do.

I think what you're really asking us is to almost give a because I gave you a ton of information to almost give like a cliff notes version of what the outcomes were and what we utilize for this year, and then allude to a summer uh re-engagement and just make that clear to both of course our partners and everyone who participated who knows, but a more public-facing activity that summarizes it all in a very simple fashion.

We can do that.

I do I can't on the dias commit to the timing, but I will commit to following up with you to make sure we have that timing of when we could do that quickly.

And so I'll need to huddle with with folks and and get that.

But yes, ma'am, you have my commitment to do so.

And and just to just to clarify too, and I think there might be some maybe some misunderstanding about what the funding formula really is.

The funding formula is as simple as percentage of our growth and revenue.

Right.

That's yeah.

That's it.

Absolutely.

I'll make that clear.

Yes, ma'am.

I think that would be match it.

And that's what you really want.

That's what you know, but that's what the public wants to know is oh, city grew at six percent.

They grow at six percent.

City growth, that's yes, ma'am.

I will make that.

It is not a lengthy equation or something that like gets handed to the school board.

Like, here's right.

But but that has been already been being done.

Understood.

And the only thing that the only thing that I think it we need to do to complete our homework really is just memorialize that on a document.

Yes, that's it.

I'll make sure to get that.

Yeah.

And if when I get with the team and we chat about it, if I have any questions, I'll come back to you, but we'll make sure to do that post-I excuse, ma'am.

No problem.

Uh would you mind if I take one liberty?

Um please take on the liberty.

This is uh good news.

So the AFR will be online today.

I know that's not your uh uh committee, but I actually have the books.

We're going to get them, and I would love to hand deliver your books to you following this meeting if you would be okay with that.

Whoa, that's late breaking news, guys.

We don't have to get the news.

That's amazing.

The 12th.

And so we'd love to hand deliver those to you for our unmodified opinion, which is also great news as well.

Man, in the memorandum that I provided to you a couple of weeks ago, giving you all of the breakdown and details.

It's been unmodified and verified by our auditors.

So one, it means I'm telling you the truth.

Number two, it means that the numbers and all of the details that I provided you have been verified.

So we love the opportunity to hand deliver those to you.

Wow.

I could I can't think of a better way to end an EHS meeting.

That's that's phenomenal.

I appreciate you.

Um you give it delivering that late breaking news.

That's really exciting.

I was looking for that.

You know I was looking for that.

But I'm gonna go upstairs and grab those booklets, and um, I know where your offices are, so I'll bring them to you in short order.

Excellent.

Really appreciate you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember James.

All right.

Um we have no papers, no boards for consideration.

So we really just have approval of the minutes and our staff report.

Uh, Madam Clerk.

The minutes to be approved are for January 8th, 2026 in February 12th, 2026 for the education and human services standing committee meeting held at 2 p.m.

If there are no amendments or corrections, then those minutes will be approved as presented.

Those minutes have been approved.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Uh and now we welcome for the first time.

I knew it's that we've literally getting that rebooks.

Uh staff for the committee.

Um, thank you again.

Um the uh the committee again has has held has has um heard from RPS today.

Uh the only action item I recorded was again the request for Mr.

Donald to follow up regarding the funding formula um from resolution 2025-R023.

So I'll be in touch with his office to make sure that's um in hand at at the appropriate time.

And I did want to name that your next meeting in April is to include an update from the Human Rights Commission as well as the Richmond and RICO Health District.

Um the update regarding um homelessness is is actually scheduled for May.

So we we do have a bit more time.

I I believe partly that's because the um the duration of that go extends into April.

So we're we're gonna let that finish and hear from them at the at the next meeting into May.

So thank you.

Thank you for keeping me straight.

And I did want to give a shout out to whoever uh whichever staff member here did the analysis on the master facilities plan.

And you all don't always get to see the work that goes on behind the scenes and the research that our staff does, but it's just really, really good work.

I don't know who did that.

Was that you, Will?

It was Whitney.

It was Whitney.

Yes, Whitney did a great job.

You can let her know when she's back.

Pass it on.

Pass on the the kudos.

That's just really, really good, good stuff here.

All right, committee members with nothing, no further hearts and minds are clear.

Afford report delivered, world saved.

We will end this meeting, call it to adjournment.