Mayor L. Douglas Wilder says he doesn’t want control over Richmond, Virginia schools
Unlike the mayors in other cities, Mayor L. Douglas Wilder says he doesn’t want control over the Richmond, Virginia, schools. But he does want the school district to improve, and he’s using his power over the city budget to try to make sure that happens. Mayor Wilder had been holding up nearly $5 million in payments to the school system since the middle of last month, prompting a lawsuit by the school board. The mayor has been highly critical of the district’s spending practices and had hired an outside consultant to audit the district. He contends that the school board has been careless with taxpayers’ money because it has not moved swiftly to close 15 underenrolled schools. “When people are writing to me on a regular basis that their real estate assessments are going up 100 percent and the people who spend those taxes pay no heed, then the Richmond public schools’ situation has reached crisis proportions,” he says. The school board’s suit was dismissed when a Richmond circuit court ruled in the mayor’s favor. Subsequently, two members of the school board, including chairman George P. Braxton, have indicated they would give the city auditor unfettered access to the district’s books. Mayor Wilder says he will continue to control the release of city funds to the school system. “We spend more than $300 million dollars a year for the operation of the Richmond public schools—and $71 million dollars more every year than the statewide average—where is that money going?” he asks. The mayor also has indicated he will release a $2.1 million payment to the district so it can cover a scheduled payment to the state retirement system.
Education Week
By Leslie A. Maxwell
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: Information on mayoral takeover moves in Los Angeles and the District of Columbia is available starting at the respective link below. Information on a collaborative model, the “Partnership for Achievement” between the Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco and the San Francisco Unified School District, is available at the remaining links.]
[NSBA School Law pages on L.A. takeover]
[NSBA School Law pages on D.C. takeover]
[School Board News Conference Daily on San Francisco collaboration]
[Press release on Partnership for Achievement]