Accounting

The RCPS budget is developed annually through a collaborative process led by the Chief Financial Officer and the Accounting Department. The budget includes four major areas: the General Fund, Food Services Fund, Special Revenue (Grants) Fund, and Capital Fund. These are combined into a detailed Annual Budget, often referred to as the “Line-Item Budget.” Code of Virginia § 22.1-92 requires school divisions to prepare a needs-based budget.  

Here’s how the process works:

• December-January: RCPS receives preliminary revenue projections from the City of Roanoke and the Commonwealth of Virginia. These are shared with the School Board.
• January–February: The budget team works with school leaders to determine any estimated changes to expenses, including salaries, other personnel costs, and operational needs. A public hearing is held in February to gather community input.
• By March 15: Per City of Roanoke Code and School Board policy, the School Board approves a high-level Categorical Budget and submits it to the City Manager.
• May: Once the City of Roanoke approves its budget, RCPS adjusts its numbers to match final funding.
• By June 30: The School Board adopts the detailed, final budget for the upcoming year.

In addition, RCPS develops a five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) to plan for infrastructure needs.

Budget management continues all year. Virginia law prohibits spending more than what is appropriated, and RCPS monitors spending closely to stay in compliance, which is verified by an independent auditor.

RCPS leaders and staff take the responsibility of managing taxpayer funds very seriously. The division maintains strong accountability through annual, independent audits that consistently confirm clean financial records. Chief Financial Officer Kathleen Jackson provides monthly updates at every School Board meeting, reporting on the division’s fund balance and monthly financial statements. These presentations are available to the public via meeting livestreams and on the School Board’s agenda website.

Additionally, annual audits, budgets, and year-end financial reports are all accessible on the RCPS website for the public to view. Each year, City Council provides an appropriation based on RCPS’ budget, which includes the General Fund, Food Services Fund, Special Revenue (Grants) Fund, and Capital Fund, as well as use of fund balance and incorporates the Capital Improvement Plan.

School divisions in Virginia receive a combination of local, state, and federal funds.

In Virginia, public schools are funded by both the state and local governments. The state uses a formula called the Composite Index of Local Ability-to-Pay (LCI) to determine how much each city or county government should contribute. The LCI is based on local property values, income levels, and retail sales. These factors are standardized, combined, and multiplied by 45%, which is the share the state expects localities to fund. A lower LCI means the state covers more of the cost, while a higher LCI means the locality is expected to pay more. Local governments may choose to contribute more than the required amount.

The state uses the Standards of Quality (SOQ) formula to determine the number of essential positions — such as teachers, instructional assistants, school counselors, librarians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and technology support staff — that each school division should have. However, the SOQ only sets minimum staffing requirements and does not fully reflect the actual needs of students or schools. A 2023 report by Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) found that the current formula underestimates the true cost of education and does not account for important factors like regional labor costs, the size of school divisions, or the additional support needed for students with higher needs.

As a result, when developing a needs-based budget, divisions like Roanoke City Public Schools often need to hire more staff and provide more services than what the SOQ covers. Those additional costs must be paid using local funds or other sources.

RCPS also receives grants through federal programs such as Title I (supporting low-income schools). IDEA (supporting students with disabilities), and Title III (for English Learners). These funds are tied to federal rules and are often earmarked for specific purposes.

The City of Roanoke created a school funding policy in 2011 to provide consistent and predictable local funding for Roanoke City Public Schools.  The policy established that RCPS would annually receive 40% of most actual local tax revenues, and included an end-of-year process to ensure that actual revenues were allocated as intended.

In May 2024, City Council voted to revise the policy for school funding to provide 40% of most budgeted, rather than actual, local tax revenues. If actual tax revenues exceed the City’s projection, RCPS must apply to receive a share of the difference. If actual revenues are lower than budgeted, RCPS must return a portion of its allocation.

In February 2025, the City informed RCPS it would provide level funding for the 2025–2026 school year. This means RCPS received the same amount as the year prior —  $106.9 million. As a result, City Council voted in May 2025 to revise the funding policy again to provide “up to 40%” of most budgeted local tax revenues.

City Council most recently voted in January 2026 to again amend the school funding policy to provide a base level of $106.9 million (based on the previous, flat-funded fiscal year) and increasing/decreasing that amount by 34% of the aggregate growth or decline of city revenues.

Additionally, RCPS annually pays the City to cover City-managed costs. RCPS pays for 100% of debt service, school resource officers, and a local share of the Children’s Services Act costs, among other fees. For the 2025-2026 school year, this is estimated to be $17.7 million.

RCPS, like all school divisions in the Commonwealth, is a separate legal entity established by the Virginia Constitution that is fiscally dependent on appropriation of state and local funds by the locality. Therefore, is a component unit of the City of Roanoke rather than a department. While Virginia law gives local school boards control over curriculum, student discipline, and budget planning, school divisions cannot raise their own tax revenue. Instead, RCPS relies on local government funding, coupled with state and federal funding. 

RCPS has its own School Board, Superintendent, and staff, and is responsible for managing its own day-to-day budget, but it remains part of the City’s broader financial structure for funding purposes. RCPS creates and oversees its own budget, but City Council approves the budget as part of the City’s annual budget. The city provides funding, and issues capital debt for school construction and major projects on behalf of the division. (The RCPS budget includes paying for 100% of that debt service.)

School buildings and capital assets are managed by RCPS but legally owned by the City.

The fund balance is essentially a savings account. It helps the division manage cash flow between funding cycles, respond to emergencies, and plan for long-term needs such as building repairs, safety upgrades, and reducing future debt. Maintaining a healthy fund balance is a sign of strong financial management and helps ensure that schools can continue operating without disruption. 

RCPS built its fund balance through careful, conservative budgeting. RCPS did not overbudget and have a large amount of unspent funds; rather, RCPS received additional revenue at the end of the fiscal year from the City of Roanoke as part of the year-end "true-up" process reconciling actual vs. projected revenue. Additionally, RCPS was able to preserve some local funds for future use when pandemic grant funding helped to cover required expenses.

The fund balance is included in the annual budget adopted by the School Board and submitted to City Council, and the School Board receives monthly public updates from the Chief Financial Officer to ensure transparency and accountability.

In 2025, the City changed its practice of allowing RCPS to keep an unassigned fund balance. As a result, the City required the School Board transferred $20.5 million of the fund balance to the City. 

Roanoke City Public Schools is a beautifully diverse school division, and with that diversity comes greater needs. RCPS is the largest school division in Southwest Virginia, and unlike its mostly suburban or rural neighbors, it serves an urban population with more complex needs. RCPS’ per-pupil spending is higher than its geographical neighbors but in line with other urban school divisions in Virginia.

In the 2022-2023 school year, the most recent data available from the VDOE, RCPS spent 64.2% of its operating budget on instruction, and 35.8% on “other,” which includes safety, security, maintenance, student support services, and administration. This is very comparable to the state average of 63.4% on instruction.

Higher needs mean RCPS requires more staff, resources, and services, both inside and outside the classroom. For example (based on 2024-25 school year data):

• About 600 RCPS students face homelessness or housing insecurity. Under the McKinney-Vento Act, they have the right to stay at their home school, even if that means crossing school zones. This requires extra transportation routes and a dedicated McKinney-Vento coordinator and staff.
• 17% of students receive special education services, which includes several regional programs for students with intensive needs, such as autism or hearing impairments. This requires additional teachers, aides, and transportation beyond normal school boundaries.
• Approximately 18% of students receive English Learner services. With Virginia’s new lower student-to-teacher ratios for EL programs in 2025-26, RCPS was required to hire 40 additional EL teachers to maintain accreditation.

These specialized programs also need more administrative oversight and coordination, increasing resource demands across departments.

Although school buildings are owned by the City, RCPS is responsible for paying the debt on any capital funding spent on school facilities. Recent capital projects have been funded through:

• City-issued municipal bonds (debt service), of which $5 million per year is generally allocated to schools
• ESSER (federal pandemic relief) funding, totaling over $29 million (one-time funds that expired in 2024). RCPS fully used these funds.
• Local funding through savings 
• State grants, such as the Virginia SCAP grant

Recent projects include additions to Morningside Elementary School, James Breckinridge Middle School, creation of the Charles W. Day Technical Education Center, renovations to the William B. Robertson Administration Building, new roofs and playgrounds, and the forthcoming new Preston Park Elementary School. Thoughtful use of one-time federal pandemic relief funds for many of these projects ensured that short-term money was used to leverage long-term benefits for the students we serve while reducing the need to borrow funds for these projects.

Between 2020 and 2024, RCPS received nearly $97.5 million in federal pandemic relief funds from the CARES Act (ESSER I), CRRSA (ESSER II), and ARPA (ESSER III). These funds were awarded directly to schools through the Virginia Department of Education. RCPS used these funds responsibly and fully spent funds received, focusing on long-term investments that would benefit students, families, and staff for generations to come.

Funds supported:

• Health and safety improvements (e.g. HVAC upgrades, air filtration)
• Academic recovery and summer learning programs
• Technology for virtual learning
• Student success tools and resources, such as virtual mental health therapists (which was a direct request from students)
• Services for students with disabilities, who are English Learners, or who are experiencing homelessness
• Construction and renovation, including:
  • Charles W. Day Technical Education Center
  • Additions at Breckinridge Middle School
  • HVAC improvements at 14 schools

These were one-time federal funds that school divisions were required to spend within a limited timeframe, and leveraged to ensure the impact of those funds will endure for generations.

This work is part of RCPS’ broader Equity in Action plan, aligning space, services, and staffing to better meet the needs of students and families across the city, which the School Board and City Council both unanimously approved in May 2021.

The opening of the William B. Robertson Administration Building was driven by a generational opportunity to expand workforce development through the creation of the Charles W. Day Technical Education Center (DAYTEC). This doubled Career & Technical Education seat capacity, expanded career pathways available to students, and ensured that students at both high schools have equal opportunities without having to travel across town.

To make space for DAYTEC, however, RCPS needed to repurpose the former Ruffner Middle School building — where more than half of the division’s Central Office staff were located.

There was not enough room in the former Central Office on Douglass Avenue to accommodate the move, so RCPS purchased the former Roanoke Times building. This allowed the division to bring administrative teams together, consolidate warehouse operations (saving approximately $6,000 per month in lease costs), and to provide a more professional, functional workspace for all departments.

The William B. Robertson Administration Building is in a centrally located, downtown building that is easily accessible to staff, families, and community partners. It includes professional learning spaces for teachers and staff and collaborative meeting areas, benefitting the entire school division.

Just as important, this move also made way for the Community Empowerment Center at Booker T. Washington, which is located in the former Central Office building and opened in July 2025. That center  — built in direct response to family feedback — offers adult education, enrollment assistance, community services, and family support programs because when families succeed, students succeed. From July to December 2025, the center served more than 1,000 individuals, showing the need for such an initiative. 

The below table (also available to download) illustrates the total costs of recent projects, including the Equity in Action plan, and funding sources. The William B. Robertson Administration and Community Empowerment Center are entirely funded through local funding, not debt service.

Funding Sources for Major RCPS Capital Projects 

As this chart shows, in order to leverage short-term federal ESSER funds and one-time SCAP grant funds for the long-term benefit of our students through the creation of DAYTEC, Central Office staff had to be relocated. This was achieved through the renovation of what is now the William B. Robertson Administration Building, achieved using local funds, in accordance with the approved Capital Plan.

At the time of approval, RCPS' projections showed a stable path for growth and facility reinvestment. There was no indication and no way to foresee that the city’s funding policy of schools would change. The School Board and City Council both unanimously approved the Equity in Action plan. 

Further, none of those projects contributed to the current constraints we are facing. The current budget shortfall is from a continuing increase in basic operating costs through inflation and other obligations, and a reduction to the annual funding of the school division’s educational operations compared to what was expected based on the city’s long-standing policy on investment in schools that was previously in place. The funds used to renovate the administration building, DAYTEC (formerly  William Ruffner Middle School), and the Booker T. Washington building were a combination of local funds that had been saved to be invested in meeting one-time needs, and one-time federal pandemic-relief dollars. Those were one-time funds, not funds that could be used for ongoing operational costs.