Happy Monday!

• And happy first day of school for most Richmond-area elementary, 6th and 9th grade students!

Today we're bringing you a special school-focused newsletter in honor of back-to-school week in RVA.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, with a high near 88.

🎧 Sounds like: "Schoolin' Life," by Beyoncé.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Louise Brissette Chasin!

Today's newsletter is 1,055 words — a 4-minute read

It's back-to-school week for Richmond-area public school students.

Why it matters: Late August starts have become the norm here, but that's a relatively recent shift in Virginia — and state lawmakers just gave districts even more flexibility to start earlier.

• Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover public schools are all doing staggered starts beginning Aug. 24.

The big picture: America's back-to-school season now stretches nearly two months, from mid-July to mid-September.

• Nearly half of all of U.S. public schools opened by Aug. 16 this year, according to dates compiled by MDR Education; 4 in 5 will open before Sept. 1.
• Almost all public schools in the Deep South open before Aug. 16; in New England, almost none do.

Zoom in: For decades, Virginia law required schools to wait until after Labor Day unless they qualified for a waiver — a restriction commonly known as the "Kings Dominion law," a nod to the theme park that lobbied for years to stretch the summer season.

• Lawmakers loosened that rule in 2019, allowing most districts to start up to two weeks before Labor Day.
• And as of July 1, a new state law allows districts to start as early as 14 days before Sept. 1 — Aug. 18 this year — without a waiver.

Between the lines: Earlier starts can give districts more room for breaks and add more teaching time before SOLs.

Yes, but: Richmond Public Schools is already experimenting with a much more dramatic calendar shift through its RPS 200 extended elementary school year program.

What we're watching: Whether Virginia's newly loosened start-date law pushes more Richmond-area districts toward mid-August starts in future years.

Share this

Virginia's kindergarten vaccine exemption rate climbed to a record 3% in the 2025-26 school year, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released last week.

Why it matters: The rise in exemptions coincided with efforts by the Trump administration to make vaccine policy changes and with measles cases hitting levels not seen in more than three decades.

By the numbers: Virginia's' kindergarten vaccine exemption rate rose from 2.7% to 3% — its highest level in the CDC data, but still below the national rate of 4.2%.

• Non-medical exemptions increased from 2.4% to 2.7%, while medical exemptions remained at 0.3%.
• About 2,667 Virginia kindergartners had an exemption from at least one required vaccine, including roughly 2,417 with non-medical exemptions.

Be smart: Virginia allows exemptions from school vaccination requirements for medical or religious reasons.

Yes, but: The CDC estimates that 93.6% of Virginia kindergartners were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella in 2025-26.

• That's below the 95% level public health officials cite to maintain herd immunity.

Zoom out: Exemptions from getting one or more vaccines increased in 41 states and the District of Columbia, per the CDC.

Go deeper

U.S. families expect to spend an average of $922 on back-to-school shopping this year, according to a PwC survey.

• That includes clothes, tech, sports equipment, books, school supplies and more.

Driving the news: Prices are higher, classroom needs have changed and kids have more say over what families buy — including requests for pricier items.

Go deeper

🏫 RPS pushed back the first day at Obama Elementary to Tuesday after finding mold and rodents in the building. (WTVR)

👀 The city says it's tweaking its new utility billing system and internal procedures to reduce payment processing errors and phone wait times. (News release)

• Plus, DPU is exploring whether the vendor can lower default autopay limits to help prevent unexpected large withdrawals.

💸 The $5 million Virginia allocated to pay for the state's nullified redistricting vote didn't cover localities' full cost to run the election. (The Richmonder)

• Richmond had a roughly $375,000 shortfall, and Chesterfield and Henrico "reported similar local expenses" that weren't reimbursed.

📱 Richmond is still paying Placer.ai for cellphone location data to track park visitors despite a new Virginia law barring its sale. Officials are reviewing the partnership for compliance. (Times-Dispatch)

🍗 Buffalo Wild Wings is opening a takeout and delivery-only restaurant next to Short Pump's Walmart late next month. (Times-Dispatch)

We're grateful to the readers who make Axios Local part of their day and continue to follow the stories unfolding around them.

Looking ahead: There's always more to cover. Member support helps our newsroom grow alongside your community and continue bringing you the local reporting you value.

🪴 Become a member today. You'll support our newsroom and help us keep delivering smart, trustworthy journalism about the place you call home.

Thank you for growing with us.

Here it is: Our first-ever pizza bracket.

Why it matters: We're launching this week-long endeavor in celebration of back-to-school — and to give parents an excuse to order out at least once this week.

State of play: We asked readers last week to send recs for the best pizza in town, and boy did y'all deliver.

• Nearly 500 responses came through, from self-described "diehard NY pizza snobs" to fans of local "non-yuppy" and "Richmond-style" options.

Stunning stat: In all, y'all recommended 75 separate pizza joints for our bracket, including roughly 66 locally-owned options.

• We whittled it down to 16 (sorry, not sorry, we voted Little Caesars out).
• So here we go.

How it works: Vote for your favorite pizza joint daily.

• We'll share the winner the next day and keep the party rolling all week.

The floor is yours. Vote here! We'll close our first round at 3pm.

Tell the Little Caesars lover

It's been a minute (or in Karri's case, an hour) since we had our first day of school, but we still wanted to get in on the first-day pic fun.

Why it matters: Behold: Our tiny selves on our first days of school way back when.

• Karri is pictured here getting on the bus for her first day of Kindergarten in Chesterfield (Greenfield Elementary, if you're wondering).
• Sabrina, posing with her teachers on the first day of Pre-K in Caracas, Venezuela.

🦊 Karri could've sworn she had a Dukes of Hazard lunch box, but one glance at the edge of the one she's holding above and she remembered her beloved Fox and the Hound lunchbox.

👑 Sabrina's mom also sent pics of her first "real Halloween" dressed as Pageant Queen Barbie, reminding her of the "Euphoria" quote: "Maddy knew who she was from a very early age."

Thanks to Alexa Mencia Orozco for editing today's edition