Dine in. Take out. Build Schools.   Click   here   to watch Mayor Stoney’s video. Today the City of Richmond launched a new campaign, “Change for RVA Schools”, to promote and encourage dining in Richmond restaurants as a means to support funding for new school facilities in the city. “The conditions in many of Richmond’s aging city schools detract from the positive learning environment our kids deserve,” said Mayor Levar Stoney. “Making a difference and creating positive change for our kids is deliciously simple; eat city food, help city schools.” Every time someone visits a Richmond restaurant, 1.5% of their bill will go toward building revenue for new school facilities. Residents will see ads on GRTC buses and messages posted via social media encouraging them to visit restaurants throughout the city. For more information, visit ChangeForRVASchools.com and follow the campaign on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram . -->

On October 2, 2018, the Virginia Municipal League (VML) adopted its 2019 legislative program, which includes support for funding the true cost of public education. Specifically, VML calls for the Commonwealth of Virginia to recognize that the current Standards of Quality do not acknowledge the actual cost of educating students, which includes pupil transportation, school support staff, access to broadband and other necessary technology and competitive staff salaries. These operational costs are in addition to the necessary facility maintenance and construction costs borne by school systems across the state.  Since 2009, local governments have taken on a much larger share of the funding, which has resulted in approximately $4 billion above the required local effort for Standard of Quality programs in 2016 and 2017. “I applaud VML for acknowledging that the Commonwealth of Virginia needs to fund the true cost of education,” said Mayor Stoney.