Government
State tax rebates of up to $250 per person set to start going out in October
If you owed income taxes to the state of Virginia for 2021, some of that money might be coming back this fall.

By Graham Moomaw
If you owed income taxes to the state of Virginia for 2021, some of that money might be coming back this fall.
As part of a bipartisan tax rebate plan approved this year, the state government is preparing to send out payments of up to $250 per tax filer (or up to $500 for couples who file jointly).
The payments won’t be quite as big as what Gov. Glenn Youngkin suggested in the tax-cutting plan he campaigned on last year. Still, the governor has touted the roughly $1 billion rebate initiative as “the largest tax rebate in the history of Virginia.”
The rebate plan didn’t get as much attention as more politically contentious tax proposals, like suspending the gas tax, partly because it had broad support and little drama. Before handing power over to Youngkin, former Gov. Ralph Northam included a plan for one-time rebates, funded with surplus revenues, in his final budget proposal.
From there, lawmakers mostly had to determine how big the checks would be based on what the state could afford. Once that was done, the rebate plan was overwhelmingly approved as part of the state budget passed in June.
Here’s how the payments will work:
Who’s eligible?
To be eligible for the payments, you had to file a state tax return for 2021 showing you still owed the state money after factoring in all deductions and credits. If you had a state liability of less than $250, your rebate will be smaller, covering only the actual liability owed. In other words, if you owed $100, your payment will be $100.
Groups that don’t owe much in state income taxes — such as low-income people whose tax burdens are already minimized through a variety of other credits and elderly or disabled filers who live off Social Security, which Virginia doesn’t count as taxable income — are unlikely to qualify for the rebate money.
It’s unclear exactly how many taxpayers can expect to receive rebate payments.
The Virginia Department of Taxation, which has set up a website and video explaining some details on how the payments will be distributed, has not released estimates of how many filers it expects to qualify based on 2021 filing data. In response to inquiries from the Mercury, an agency spokesperson said additional details could be provided later.
In a similar rebate initiative in 2019, the state sent out roughly 2.5 million checks of up to $110 per filer.
Chris Wodicka, a tax policy analyst with the left-leaning Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, said more filers could get payments this year since the 2019 eligibility deadline was July 1, and this year’s deadline is Nov 1. Based on past years, Wodicka said, a few hundred thousand extra returns could be filed in those additional months.
“If we assume something like that holds for 2022, then maybe about 2.8 million to 2.9 million rebates will be issued this year (with over 1 million tax filers not getting one),” Wodicka said in an email.
Vivian J. Paige, a Norfolk accountant who chairs the tax committee of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, said it’s difficult to project how many Virginians might benefit because eligibility will depend on each filer’s unique circumstances and statistical trends in 2021 tax returns aren’t fully known yet.
“We would have been further along had this been done in the regular session,” Paige said, referring to the summertime passage of the budget, a process that usually wraps up in March and April.
When’s the money being sent?
For Virginians who filed their taxes by July 1, rebate payments will start going out on Oct. 17.
The state tax department says most eligible filers should get the rebate by Oct. 31, but late filers should expect their rebates to come later.
How will people get it?
If you got your tax refund in the mail, you should expect to get your rebate via a paper check as well. If your refund was direct deposited into your bank account, you’ll see a digital payment show up there with the description “VATXREBATE,” according to the state.
For people who have outstanding debts, there’s a catch.
For anyone who owes money to a state or local agency, such as unpaid child support, the money will pay off those debts first. If those debts exceed the amount of the rebate, the state says it will send filers a letter explaining how their rebate was used and why they didn’t get it.
What about those who don’t qualify?
Lower-income Virginians should get a new tax break next year due to the new policy making the earned-income tax credit for working families mostly refundable, meaning bigger refunds for many filers with little to no tax liability.
“It will likely equate to a few hundred dollars in additional refunds per qualifying family,” Wodicka said.
Democrats pushed for the EITC change as part of a bipartisan budget deal with Republicans.

Education
Henrico HS principal honored with REB Leadership Award; Colonial Trail ES principal is runner-up
Karin Castillo-Rose, principal of Henrico High School, has been awarded the 2022-23 REB Award for Distinguished Educational Leadership.

Karin Castillo-Rose, principal of Henrico High School, has been awarded the 2022-23 REB Award for Distinguished Educational Leadership. The Community Foundation and the REB Foundation present the award to four principals annually — one each from the school divisions of Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover counties and one from the city of Richmond. Castillo-Rose was surprised with the news Tuesday afternoon at a pep rally in the school’s gym, attended by her family and Henrico County Public Schools leaders.
Castillo-Rose will receive a $10,000 cash grant and an additional $20,000 for school projects. She plans to use the bulk of her funding for projects that support students’ mental, social and emotional well-being. The grant will fund student grief support groups; classes in social and emotional learning; a labyrinth garden and a “Warrior Farm” flower and vegetable garden, both to promote mindfulness; yoga classes; and outdoor recreation and socialization spaces.
Kevin Schatz, principal of Colonial Trail Elementary School, was runner-up for the award. He will receive a $10,000 grant to build a cricket practice facility accessible to students of varying abilities, including students who use wheelchairs. The facility at Colonial Trail will serve as the centerpiece of a new cricket league for students with disabilities. Cricket is a popular sport in the community served by the school.
The REB award recognizes principals who go beyond the day-to-day demands of their jobs to create an exceptional educational environment. The award stresses management and communication skills, and the ability to inspire, encourage and advocate for the school. Nominees must have served as principal at their school for at least three years.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Castillo-Rose told the crowd Tuesday. “Thank you to the students, because it is your student voice that pushes me every day to think outside the box. [Thank you] for advocating for yourselves. Thank you to the staff and sponsors who listen to the students and push me to push further, and for making sure that it is all about the students, all the time, every day. Behold the green and gold!”
Castillo-Rose has been principal at the school since 2015, after serving as assistant principal from 2012-15. Before that she was an administrative intern and teacher at Varina High School and a teacher with New York City Public Schools. She served in the U.S. Army before embarking on a career in public education. Originally from New York City, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University, a master’s from Mercy College in New York and an education specialist degree from the University of Virginia. She is currently a doctoral student at Virginia Tech.
Schatz became principal of Colonial Trail in 2018. Before that he served as associate principal at Shady Grove, Charles Johnson and Nuckols Farm elementary schools. He began his career as a teacher at Nuckols Farm when the school opened in 1997. Schatz is originally from Denver and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder.c
“This is a testament to the school, the school community and everybody involved,” Schatz said. “Everybody’s focus is on belonging, but more importantly, trying to find opportunities for those students and those families who are furthest from opportunity. That’s what we do every single day, and I’m so proud.”
Government
City hosting public meeting on replacement of Byrd Park Reservoir roof
The Byrd Park Reservoir was built in 1876 and has been serving the City of Richmond residents and surrounding counties continuously since then. The Reservoir operates as two finished water tanks. Upgrades and maintenance have occurred over the years to ensure peak operating capacity.

The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities invites residents, commuters, and visitors who utilize areas around Byrd Park to attend a public meeting to learn more about the new phase of the Byrd Park Reservoir Roof Replacement Project. The meeting is from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, at the Byrd Park Roundhouse at 621 Westover Road.
The Byrd Park Reservoir was built in 1876 and has been serving the City of Richmond residents and surrounding counties continuously since then. The Reservoir operates as two finished water tanks. Upgrades and maintenance have occurred over the years to ensure peak operating capacity. DPU is in the process of additional upgrades to improve the distribution system reliability and increase the operational flexibility of facilities associated with the reservoir. The concrete roofs are reaching the end of their useful life and will be replaced by two new aluminum roofs.
Construction will be sequenced to maintain the use of the park and will take place within a fenced area, with boundaries shifting as the work progresses. Access to the rest of the park and its trails will be open to the public.
Attendees of the public meeting can expect to learn more about the scope and review project plans.
For more details about this project, visit the project page here.
Education
Spots still open in academic ‘pandemic recovery’ program ENGAGE Virginia
There are still some spots remaining in a new academic program that aims to support Virginia public school students after the impact of COVID-19 on education, although a majority have been filled.

By Chloe Hawkins
There are still some spots remaining in a new academic program that aims to support Virginia public school students after the impact of COVID-19 on education, although a majority have been filled.
The Virginia Department of Education and Graduation Alliance launched “ENGAGE Virginia” last month. ENGAGE Virginia will help students with learning and attendance issues after the effects of the pandemic, according to a VDOE press release. It will “supplement efforts already underway in schools to meet the needs of students still struggling with academic, attendance and mental health issues,” stated Jillian Balow in a press release. Balow was the state superintendent of Public Instruction but recently resigned.
The program is state-funded and free to the public, according to ENGAGE Virginia’s website. Families who sign up will be assigned an academic success coach, according to its website. The coaches will help students in ways like to focus on their schoolwork, create resumes and refer students to local social-emotional support nonprofits.
The VDOE Office of School Quality is in charge of overseeing ENGAGE Virginia, according to Aurelia Ortiz, director of School Quality. This office “helps schools with school improvement,” Ortiz said.
The General Assembly designated $3.5 million for academic assistance to the VDOE during the 2022 session, according to Ortiz. After the pandemic, the VDOE had many concerns around student displacement, Ortiz said.
“After the pandemic we knew that divisions had concerns, which we were aware of, with student engagement, with chronic absenteeism, students that had fallen off the roster, students that they could not locate,” Ortiz said. “Students can’t be successful if they aren’t in school.”
Forty-two school divisions reached out to ENGAGE Virginia to sign students up, while 30 school divisions officially partnered with ENGAGE Virginia, according to Ortiz. Over 11,000 program spots have been filled out of the allotted 15,000, Ortiz said.
These spots are “tentatively taken” by the school divisions, which means each division’s needs vary depending on its size, Ortiz said. Parents can also reach out to their child’s school to ask for academic help.
“As long as there are seats available — which as of right now you can see by the numbers there are seats available — then they [families] would be eligible for the program as well,” Ortiz said.
ENGAGE Virginia offers a human resource in schools where those resources are lacking, whether that be through a social worker or school counselor, according to Ortiz.
“A social worker would make a referral for community services, the counselor would offer mental health support, a teacher would provide homework assistance,” Ortiz said. “ENGAGE Virginia will do all of those things wrapped into one to meet the needs of the families.”
The impact of the program should be multilayered, through mental and academic support and the link to community resources, she said.
COVID-19 created the largest disruption of education systems in history, according to a United Nations policy brief released in August 2020.
Parent Courtney Dean’s family had a hard time adjusting to the pandemic, according to Dean. Dean’s two children, 11th grader Carter and eighth grader Stella, are enrolled in Chesterfield County Public Schools, according to Dean.
The pandemic was “challenging” for Dean’s children, she said. It was tough for them academically, but they also missed out on a lot of “lasts,” Dean said. Her two children’s fifth and eighth grade school years were cut short by the pandemic, and they missed out on end-of-year events.
“She [Stella] was doing fine as far as learning in the virtual world at first,” Dean said. “But she had a really hard time focusing and paying attention to virtual because it’s so much more interesting to look around your bedroom and, you know, mess with things … many times I would find her asleep because she could.”
Stella also had issues with her Spanish class once she transferred back to in-person classes, Dean said.
Stella advanced to the next level Spanish class, but is retaking it because she needed a better foundation, Dean said.
“She started that when she was virtual and then it went back to a hybrid thing where the teacher was trying to teach both the kids that were there in person, like my daughter, as well as the kids who were at home,” Dean said. “For my daughter, it just didn’t work … to no fault of the teacher; it was brand new for everybody and she was doing her best.”
Dean’s son, Carter, dealt with more of an “emotional struggle,” she said. He worked over 12 hours a day on homework, from 7 a.m. to midnight, once things went virtual, according to Dean.
“He got to the point where he was just so exhausted from it,” Dean said.
Dean was not aware of the ENGAGE Virginia relief program, but said it seems like it will be “so helpful” for students who had a hard time adjusting to virtual or hybrid learning environments.
“You can’t stop the flow of learning for everybody,” Dean said, but some students might need more help outside of the class.
Parents can start the registration process through ENGAGE Virginia, here.