Despite meeting on Valentine’s Day, Richmond City Council passed on an opportunity to end its feud with the Richmond School Board over the size of the proposed replacement for the aged and decrepit George Wythe High School.

Instead, the council agreed Monday to delay for at least two weeks a planned vote on Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s request to transfer $7.3 million from the city to Richmond Public Schools so that the school system can hire an architectural firm to begin designing the new high school.

The issue was put off until the council’s meeting on Monday, Feb. 28.

City Council President Cynthia I. Newbille said the delay would give the two bodies another opportunity to meet, although a date and time has not been set.

She said council members have come up with additional questions, and the meeting would allow the School Board an opportunity to provide the information.

But it is uncertain whether the issue will be resolved if and when a meeting is held.

Like Mayor Stoney and RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras, some members of the council want the new school to be built with a capacity for 2,000 students and are prepared to vote against releasing the funds without the School Board agreeing.

But a five-member majority of the School Board, which controls school construction, believes that a school built for 1,600 students would be sufficient.

The difference in size, according to the School Board majority, would save at least $16 million and ensure enough money would be available to replace the high school and Woodville Elementary School, another aged school that is high on the board’s list for replacement.

Should the council continue to block the transfer of the funds and the School Board refuse to give in, the effort to gain a replacement building could be pushed back until after the 2024 elections for City Council and School Board.

Mayor Stoney has previously stated that School Board control of the new high school’s construction would delay the project for three years. But with the School Board poised to hire a design firm and get the project moving, the blame for delay could fall on the council if it balks at providing the funds.