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VPM Daily Newscast: Richmond budget, FBI HQ and Wegmans’ distribution center

VPM | By VPM News

Published March 18, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT

VPM Daily Newscast

The VPM Daily Newscast contains all your Central Virginia news in just 5 to 10 minutes. Episodes are recorded the night before.

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Here’s a recap of the top stories on the morning of March 18, 2025:

How could federal education cuts impact Virginia school budgets?
Reported by VPM News’ Chris Suarez and Sean McGoey

School divisions across Virginia are developing their budgets for the next fiscal year with federal dollar allocations intact. (Virginia’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30; the federal fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.)

Some officials, however, fear that Trump’s efforts to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education — as well as executive actions compelling school divisions to erase programs and policies related to diversity, equity and inclusion — could put that money at risk.

The commonwealth’s school divisions received an average of 11.1% of their funding from the federal government during the 2022-23 school year, according to Virginia Department of Education data; 22 counties received at least 20% of their money from Washington.

If federal funding for schools were entirely eliminated, Virginia schools would need to fill a $2.4 billion gap with new sources. That means localities and the commonwealth would need to cover costs for instructors in high-poverty schools, food programs for low-income students and teacher training programs designed to improve student achievement.

Chesterfield unveils 'austere' $2.4B budget proposal
Reported by VPM News’ Billy Shields

Chesterfield County could be getting another water treatment plant as part of its proposed $2.4 billion budget for fiscal 2026. The $426 million plant, which would be located in the Appomattox Tidal Basin, could become the county’s fourth water source by 2033 if approved.

Around 40 percent of the proposed budget — about $1 billion — is for the public school system. The current proposal raises the school’s funding by about $43 million from last year, which should cover 3% step increases for all employees and about $13 million to support special education.

Matt Harris, deputy county administrator for finance and administration, described the budget as “austere.” There are 175 full-time positions totaling $22.1 million that are going unfunded, and about $300 million worth of capital improvement projects are on hold. The county also decided not to float any bonds during the next fiscal year.

“The amount of economic uncertainty that’s currently floating around out there is at unprecedented levels,” Harris said.

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