About 25 people attended the first in a series of town hall meetings hosted by Del. Keith Hodges (R-Middlesex) to learn more about what’s going on in Richmond during this year’s session of the Virginia General Assembly.

The meeting, which touched on a variety of issues ranging from education and the budget to stemming the tide of drug abuse, was held last Thursday evening in Gloucester’s colonial courthouse.

According to Hodges, the General Assembly is “within one-tenth of one percent” of passing the Commonwealth’s overall budget. “We’re very, very, very close on an actual budget,” Hodges said, noting that just two years ago, the state’s legislature adjourned without passing a budget.

Included in this year’s proposed budget for the commonwealth is a $530 million increase for K-12 education, to be spread out among the localities.

Gloucester’s school superintendent Ben Kiser, who attended last week’s town h...