Mayor Levar M. Stoney has followed through, though he later said he did so “with deep reservations.”

On Monday, Mayor Stoney sent an ordinance to Richmond City Council that would shift $7.3 million to Richmond Public Schools and enable RPS to hire an architectural firm to design and manage construction of a replacement George Wythe High School and potentially a new Woodville Elementary

At a Tuesday media briefing, the mayor made it clear he did so reluctantly and only “because in the end, we all want” a new high school to replace the 60-year-old high school building in South Side.

Alleging the School Board had refused to engage “in good faith” with his administration over development of the new school, Mayor Stoney said he would leave it to the council decide at its Monday, Dec. 13, meeting as to whether to approve the move of the funds.

He declined to address the move of $3.8 million left from the construction of River City Middle and Cardinal and Henry L. Marsh III elementary schools. His administration has kept that money to deal with expensive problems that have developed since the buildings opened in September and that might not covered by warranties that have expired, the School Board has been told.

The mayor’s move on the larger pool of funds was welcome news to Richmond Public Schools, which reported having seven firms competing for the design contract. The contract is expected to be awarded this month, with the potential for having designs ready for construction bidding within eight to 10 months.

Still, Mayor Stoney objected to the School Board voting Monday to move $2 million in unassigned school improvement dollars to cover initial design costs for the new high school ahead of gaining the city funds and potentially to pave the way for hiring a firm to design a new Woodville Elementary School in Church Hill.

During the media briefing Mayor Stoney claimed that the School Board’s action would halt investment in a new roof for Swansboro Elementary School, a partial roof for Chimborazo Elementary and improvement to fire safety systems at Lucille Brown Middle School and Richmond Community High School.

According to RPS, the funding for the Swansboro roof was not touched nor was funding for improvements to Lucille Brown Middle School. An RPS document does not list any funds appropriated for a partial roof for Chimborazo nor for a replacement for a fire suppression panel at Richmond Community.

School Board member Jonathan M. Young, 4th District, noted the board had left $1.6 million available in undesignated capital funds to meet unspecified needs. Based on the projected spending at Swansboro and Brown, that would be more than enough to cover the projects at Chimborazo and Richmond Community.

In responding to a Free Press query, city spokesperson Sam R. Schwartzkopf said the mayor relied on information in RPS’ 2021-22 capital improvement budget.

The mayor also claimed that a School Board he labeled as “dysfunctional” was “out of compliance” in moving funds from one line item to another line item within its capital budget.

He said that he and City Council had to approve the change, even though the money was provided to the School Board with-out any strings. Under the policy set by the council, the School Board must seek permission if it seeks to move money from its capital funds pool to operations or instruction.

Neither the mayor nor the council has required the School Board to seek permission to undertake specific projects.

“I guess he has to call us dysfunctional to distract from the truth – that he has been spending millions of dollars more on building schools than he should have and the projects his team has managed are riddled with problems,” School Board member Kenya J. Gibson, 3rd District, wrote to the Free Press in an email response to the mayor’s criticism.

“While he has been trying to sell Richmond on a glitzy casino and holding press conferences to shame the School Board, we’re moving forward,” Ms. Gibson continued. “Despite his claims and the roadblocks he has created, we’re about to award a design contract” for a new high school.

At Tuesday’s media briefing, the mayor said his reservations about providing the design money stem from his disagreement with the decision of a five-member majority of the School Board that has retaken control of school development to build a $110 million, 1,600-student school. Mayor Stoney believes a 2,000-seat high school is needed that would cost at least $30 million more.

The mayor again on Tuesday forecast that the smaller school would be overcrowded if the School Board succeeds in getting it built and opened by the fall of 2024.

“It would be irresponsible,” he said, to open a school and immediately need modular classrooms to accommodate an increase in enrollment. The current George Wythe building was built for 1,400 students.

The School Board has pushed the smaller, lower cost school based on its plans to develop a 1,000-seat career and technical high school in a former tobacco factory in South Side. Mr. Young has noted the school system already has 2,500 vacant seats in its existing high schools, making a 2,000-seat George Wythe unnecessary.