Youngkin attacks public schools
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other Republican state leaders came down hard against public education at a back-to-school rally for GOP congressional candidates Aug. 31 at Mason District Park in Annandale.
The key message at the event is that parents, not school administrators, teacher unions, or “radical politicians,” should have control over their children’s education.
Progressives believe “schools should lock children out of their parents’ lives,” Youngkin claimed, falsely. “They think parents have no right to know what their child is discussing with their teacher or their counselor,” particularly about such issues as “what pronouns they want to use or how they express their gender.”
He touted his policies to ban the teaching of “divisive concepts,” to let parents decide whether their children should wear a mask during the Covid pandemic, and to allow parents to demand alternative materials if they don’t want “sexually explicit” content in the classroom.
“Parents know what’s best for their children,” said Karina Lipsman, who’s running for Congress in the 8th District. She will face Rep. Don Beyer on Election Day, Nov. 8. She said, “Teachers are there to teach children how to think, not what they should think.”
As an immigrant from Ukraine when it was under Soviet control, she compared the United States to the worst days of “socialism,” which included the indoctrination of children and the weaponization of police.
Jim Myles, who is running against Rep. Gerry Connolly in the 11th congressional district, said: “Fairfax Public Schools are failing us” and promoted “school choice” with taxpayer money flowing to private schools.
According to Myles, public school leaders “are more interested in political indoctrination, sexualization, and pressure for gender identity” than in education.
Myles blamed the teacher shortage on teachers’ fear “of this radical, social, progressive ideology that’s being imposed on our schools.”
Despite a long-term immunization requirement, Myles claimed that public schools “have no legal right to be involved in the health of our children.” Schools’ intervention in children’s health is causing children to lead “secret double lives behind their parents’ backs” and will cause “irreparable harm to our children and to our families.”
Hung Cao, who’s running against Rep. Jennifer Wexton in the 10th congressional district, compared “equity” to other “old enemies of the United States,” such as socialism, Marxism, and communism. Equity, he said, “goes against the fabric of our country, and I will not stand for it.”
State Attorney General Jason Miyares lauded Youngkin’s executive order making masks optional for students and blasted the admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology for discriminating against Asians.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears said parents should have the right to “shop around for the best schools for our children.” She called the fight for school choice “the new Brown v. Board of Education fight.”
“We are not surrendering our children,” she said, demanding public money follow children to private schools.
77 responses to “Youngkin attacks public schools”
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Thank you, Governor Youngkin. I still would never send my children to these public schools (that I attended decades ago).
But I’m happy that there is finally pushback against the political indoctrination that my friends’ kids – without exception – uncomfortably experience on a weekly basis.
It’s wild that republicans think that “be nice and treat everyone the way you wish to be treated” is political indoctrination. Must be that they have such hateful hearts, so they don’t understand what it’s like to fell empathy. I truly feel sorry for you and people like you.
Well, to send your kids to public school, you would have to have kids. Unless you’re a rapist I can’t imagine a woman getting within a mile of you.
What a nasty, personal attack on someone you don’t know, who is posting about their own experience.
Just toxic.
It’s only Republicans who are indoctrinating kids these days.
– Don’t express yourself, just be whatever gender we think you should be
– Worship Jesus and only Jesus
– Be a good little fascist American, don’t think for yourself
There are only two genders. Why are you anti science?
“indoctrinating kids” with what?
You literally attended them! Cannot your own experience inform you how fake this attack is! JFC you morons are giving everything away.
Thank you Gov. Younkin!
The irony is that moving taxpayer money to private schools is funding political indoctrination of private school students. Should our public funding really go to the “Glenn Youngkin High School of Libertarianism and Class-Based Society”?
Homeschooling co-ops. The only way to go imho. I’ve been doing this for over a decade, and everyone remarks about how lovely, respectful, thoughtful my kids are. Meet in-person with other parents 2x a week, plenty of sports, music, dance, field trip opportunities throughout the year for socializing. Plenty of time for one on one play dates with other nice families. Plenty of time for vacations, traveling, art galleries, apple picking, visiting grandma and grandpa. Lake trips, beach trips. My husband works remote and I home school. Never going back.
Single income household isn’t an option for most people. The core of your childrens success isn’t unique to home schooling or private or public schools. What really matters is parental involvement. Parents need to motivate their kids to participate in extra curriculars, communicate with and listen to their kids educators, and create healthy relationships with their kids.
I’m glad that homeschooling has worked out for you, and I am also very glad that you have been able to give your kids a proper social life while doing so. It’s also great that you get to spend so much time with your kids. Not being sarcastic whatsoever.
However, the idea that everyone should homeschool instead of public school is not feasible and is an asinine proposition.
How lovely for you to not have to hold a real job.
“Teacher” isn’t a real job?!
I am almost always a Republican voter, but attacking public schools and calling for their funding to be reduced to support expensive private schools is one item I will vote against. I don’t agree with everything public schools do, and do agree with some of the points above. But I will vote against ANY reduction of public school money. I live in the 11th district I believe (they just switched things around), so take note and don’t spend your time attacking my kids school funding or I will campaign with my conservative friends to vote Democrat this cycle.
I was at t he rally. No one said funding for public schools should be reduced. What was said that money should follow the students. This is what is done in Florida. If fundning public schools recive is a function of enrollment and enrollment is reduced because parents are opting out of the public school system, then shouldn’t funding be commensurately reduced?
No
Do worse with fewer students and more money. The FCPS motto.
Test scores have decreased, enrollment has decreased. Irreparable harm due to lockdowns led by Randi Weingarten and cheered by teacher’s unions.
I’ve paid hundreds of thousands in property taxes in the last 10 years, and paid to send my kids to private school.
What I’ve gotten in return is a new generation that has been indoctrinated to despise this country.
Sure doesn’t seem “equitable” to me. Go Gov Youngkin.
I encourage anyone who believes this to check their facts . I am an FCPS alumni and I always felt as if I was receiving one of the best educational experiences in the country . As a TA for college classes in the Midwest , I noticed first hand how uneducated and unprepared students are who come from the Midwest . Youngkin is making false accusations. I also want to ask you ; if your car broke down, would you call a mechanic or a plumber ? Your answer is probably a mechanic . How come schools are different ? Do we call on experienced educators who develop curriculum based on their training and experience ? Do we call on a parent with a background in math to develop the curriculum for 8th grad history ? I fully agree that parents should have an input and some say on what happens with their child at school but if we start micromanaging the curriculum then what’s the point ? It’s basically like homeschooling your kid . If you don’t like it then pay to send your kid to a private school but don’t criticize a great public school system
Why not? On what basis is budgeting for schools is determined?
The excellence of Fairfax County schools is the reason your homes are so valuable. Be careful what you wish for. Politicians are pandering to the lowest common denominator here.
This clown goes to Fairfax (with the best public school system in the country) to complain about quality of our schools? Maybe after his term he can take on reviving Ringling Bros.
Best in the Country? . .whatever
FCPS has 27 high schools and 9 of them are ranked in the top 500 in the nation by US News so we clearly have *one of* the best public school systems in the US, if not the world. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=virginia&district-id=109481&ranked=true
If you want to disagree then I encourage you to bring your own sources.
And you know FCPS schools are the best in the country? On what basis?
FCPS has 27 high schools and 9 of them are ranked in the top 500 in the nation by US News so we clearly have *one of* the best public school systems in the US, if not the world. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=virginia&district-id=109481&ranked=true
If you want to disagree then I encourage you to bring your own sources.
Home valuation is in part determined on the basis of where your home it located. The best schools are located where the property values are the highest.
This is a red herring that will not provide a solution for a massive and worsening problem. It’s lazy to privatize when the opportunity is to improve the public school system. I get it, that’s tough work. Privatization will dilute the already suffering public school system and the kids remaining in public schools will receive lower quality. What happens 15 years from now when those kids graduate? Rather than dilute public education, put more support towards it. Look at other industries that are hybrid public – private (i.e. trash, medicine, social services, roads, transportation etc.) – any improvements here? Younkin is aiming at the right problem with the wrong solution.
I love my fairfax county trash service and feel bad seeing all the problems people with American have been having.
For once I’m glad we have a one term governor. Don’t let the door slam after you.
Thereis a reason our governors cannot succeed themselves…it’s on the VA state flag. Real power in VA is in the State Assembly which is a part-time job. The State Assembly and Senate passes laws, governors execute them.
It would be so nice if all these crazy MAGA republicans were humbled by a case of monkeypox!
So “inclusive and tolerable”
Fairfax County has the potential to be one of the Top System in the K-12 education. If monies are allocated to private school or for profit outfits our community loses and no progress is made for the betterment all concerned. Yesterday was a direct assault on the Community at large, and efforts to make us all better off in the future. We need to strive to remember what is helping the majority and turn away from the Me, mine, my mentality.
Another multi millionaire telling us what he has done for “US” and wants “US” to do for him is part of what has gotten us to this point of refusing to acknowledge majority rules, and then we work from that point.
And Terry MacAwful isn’t a multi-millionaire? No bombs were thrown @ the Wed. rally.
I hope the governor’s statement was just a warning to the current public schools. If an elected governor finds a problem of the public school systems, he should find a way to correct it but not avoiding it.
The key message at the event is that parents, not school administrators, teacher unions, or “RADICAL POLITICIANS,” should have control over their children’s education.
SELF-INFLICTED IRONY….BUT HYPOCRISY IS A GOP TRADEMARK.
Look at those kids in the pictures. Obviously there against their will and not a smile in the bunch. Who is indoctrinating who? What kind of parent lets their kid be used as a prop for such miserable liars?
I was there and saw plenty of kids w/smiles on their faces, none pulling on their parents’ arms, “let’s leave.”.
I guess the parents who wouldn’t let their kids show up to the drag shows!
Fairfax schools aren’t what they used to be academically. College admissions counselors know this.
There are prosperous households in Fairfax County that could afford a private school if they chose, but have opted for the what has historically been a high quality public education option here in FC.
The COVID experience has raised awareness among parents that the quality of instruction in Fairfax Classrooms (virtual or otherwise) has somewhat decayed and otherwise reoriented toward socialization of DEI principles. This reorientation has been, and likely will continue to be, an important objective for county government.
During the COVID period public enrollment has declined in favor of non-public options. Will this trend reverse now that students are back in-person in the classroom? I think not – the DMV is a very competitive place and as parents get the impression that FCPS is distracted (to put it nicely) by other priorities and not capable or interested in providing quality academics, they will seek non-public options to find that quality.
There are also plenty of people that cannot quite afford non-public education, though their children have solid academic potential – they will be forced to accept the new FCPS.
“Enroll today for an O.K. public education at FCPS!”
If wealthy county residents want to send their kids to private school because of a perceived “degradation in the quality of FCPS”, they can go right ahead. Overcrowding has been a massive problem for at least the past 20 years in FCPS. Maybe this could alleviate some of the pressure and get classroom sizes down?
Just don’t cut public school funding. Certainly don’t subsidize private school tuitions. If you want to send your kid to private school go right ahead but you need to pay the cost of doing so.
Hilarious that this cohort will criticize “government handouts” yet they want a government handout to make private school more affordable for them.
If I could pay for private school for my kids I would. To often I have to explain to by children that they have to answer the a questions in social studies the way you are required by the teacher/ district seeks. Then we go through the realities. I’m all for public education but FCPS is indoctrination focused.
What an excellent, sober summary of a complex and controversial issue.
I read somewhere that Finland prohibits private schools, and the result is that they have best overall public education system, because the rich people then have to invest in public schools, and the rest of society reaps the benefit.
Contrast that with America where, it seems like we want to devolve every communal or social need into a few based model, and is it any wonder all of our public services are failing.
And Finland like all Scandinavian countries has a small (5.6) heterogeneous population. The aggregate population of all, largely heterogeneous Nordic countries, Finland, Sweden. Demark (incl. Greenland) , Norway and Iceland (357K) is 26M, 60% of the population of CA. Of these countries, only Sweden has a population > than 10M. None of these countries is diverse whereas the US is the single-most diverse country in the world. Per, “The Fallacy of Composition,” what’s true of part may not be of the whole. Just because one system works in one country, doesn’t mean it woill work in all. In any case, strictly speaking, Sweden, often thought to be Socialist, it is not. My wife is French. Socialism is not everything Americans think it is. Not only are taxes very high, but France also is governed by a privileged, elite class only open to a few. Also, Americans would never tolerate the standard of living in France. That said, the French do have a quality of life Americans cannot appreciate but their standard of living is lower than ours.
Totally defund Fairfax Public School – fire all the teachers…that will be a good start for out children…school choice!
I hope you are being sarcastic. You can’t honestly suggest that it serves school choice to eliminate one of the primary choices for people to send their kids to school.
That is, unless what you really mean by “school choice” is “private education”, which for the majority of people isn’t actually a choice at all.
Okay so I guess we know for sure what side the Annandale Today people are on. What a biased piece. I would say that what the Governor is getting at is that parents should be allowed decide if their children are forced to choose pronouns and celebrate men in drag as if they are some kind of heroes.
I’m a former Democrat who dropped that political party forever when they started trying to make taxpaying citizens illegal and unemployed in their own country because they weren’t comfortable receiving an unproven ‘vaccine’ from a corrupt company that is in bed with a corrupt government.
I thank Governor Youngkin for saving us from the then-burgeoning mask/testing/vaccine passport police state. This is supposed to be a free country and if we’re not careful it could turn into something else.
We all know parents gave a say in their kids education no matter where it happens. We all want to be healthy and safe in our communities. If we disagree on how that happens then a conversation is needed but nobody ever gets everything they want so let’s make sure of the facts and be reasonable about what we expect from government.
A republican complaining about freedom in 2022, oh the irony. Everything else in your rant checks out, keep the tinfoil hat on champ, it suits you well.
lol ok. AnnandaleToday puts very plainly in it’s About section that it’s politics are covered with a progressive lens.
I was at the rally and this is not only exactly the message of the day but a repetition of the message that got him. Sears and Miyares elected. Btw, I know the person who wrote the article whatherpoltical leanings are. She is no “journalist.”
Even the helpful local little Annandale blog turns out to be biased. Whatever you think of FCPS today, parents are paramount in the partnership that educates their children. Parents elect school boards and governors. Collectively as taxpayers, we employ the public school teachers and administrators to teach our children as we collectively decide. (I mean, do you tell your boss at work what to do?)After years of blissful ignorance that their children were being properly educated despite budget pressures, COVID rudely awakened many moderate and conservative (not necessarily Republican) parents to the left-swinging pendulum. Now that these parents are paying attention and seeking a more centrist approach to education they are denigrated by others for asserting their rights and being more civically responsible. The battle for the classroom will be won at the ballot box this fall and next, just as it was last fall. The pendulum is swinging back to the center and will continue to do so as long as liberals keep demonizing their neighbors (see the above comments as clear evidence) for finally getting involved in our democracy at a local level. PS: My children all went to FCPS schools, not private ones. I believe in public schools, just not in the people presently running our school system.
Its a blog run by one person on their own time and dollar, that person can do whatever they want. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. If it were part of the national media, your comment would actually make sense.
A more centrist approach? You think that’s what these groups want? I’ll have whatever you are smoking please because it must be strong.
If you really want some of what he’s smoking, try Smoke and Vapor Planet. About fifty completely different and unique people (wink wink) posted comments about how great it is on a different thread.
Fwiw, many years ago when my youngest was in MS, I had ametting w/her Guidance Counselor. At the end of the meeting, I deliberately said ((testing her), “well I know that you will do the right thing on my daughter’s behalf as afterall, you work for me.” She didn’t say anything but I could see the rage in her face. Bear in mind, this was over 20 years ago. My daughter is now 35.
Wow you seem like a peach. I’m sure you left that meeting feeling you got one over on her. How miserable
Why is this something you are bragging about?! Teachers don’t work for you, you smug old turd.
The comedy part is that 24 hours after blasting the schools and raising the bogeyman of socialism, Lipsman’s campaign volunteers showed up at an elementary school’s back-to-school night where they asked to borrow a table and chairs.
Yes, friends, they asked for the benefit of use of communal property.
Irony is dead, but it leaves a funny lookin’ corpse.
And, yes, the request was granted because our schools are awesome, consistently showing kindness and compassion even to those who wish to defund them.
Good myth that Fairfax Schools are good – they are trash…
Trash? That’s absurd. As a whole, they are ranked very well, not perfect but who is?
Would love to hear why they are “trash”. Should I expect any facts in a response (not expecting one) or just hyperbole?
As a graduate of Annandale High School (1996) I can confirm at least that school is trash. Didn’t really realize it at the time but after looking back it was pretty terrible in terms of teachers. A few good ones but most didn’t seem to care and went through the motions.
I love how all these comments are skipping over the most blatant aspect of what FCPS is allowing now– they can legally keep information about your child from you the parent (I’d say gender identity is a pretty important piece of information for parents) while putting teachers in a rather awkward position. Some are trying to call it ‘protection’ for the kids but they are instead taking away appropriate and much needed power away from parents and teachers. Unreal. Block out the rest of the political noise people, this is a very concerning issue. I don’t care what ‘side’ you vote for and support, be a decent human being and recognize what is threatening our children and society today. It really breaks my heart and I just don’t know what to do anymore.
I know the person who wrote the report. I saw her at the rally. She ain’t no objective journalist.
younkin’s kid voted illegally.. Oh the irony
I grew up in Los Angles in the 70′ and 80’s and I guess LAUSD had a policy about things like CRT similar to Youngkin’s.
They didn’t teach about the Civil War, nor slavery. At all. I happened to learn about it in the 8th grade when I was so bored. With nothing else to do, I picked up my text book and turned to the Civil War chapter, figuring it would be some minor conflict, as we had not covered at all. Imagine my surprise when I read what the Civil War was about. 40 years later, I still remember it to this day.
In high school, we covered the Holocaust, and had a survivor attend our class. Terrifying stuff. But I graduated high school without the Civil War, nor slavery ever having been on the curriculum. This whitewashing was so complete, that the Soviet Union would have been proud.
I am a graduate of a LAUSD school and had a semester devoted to the Civil War and slavery in the early 90s in high school. LAUSD has the largest publicly funded budget in the state of CA 2nd only to the state of CA. And it has been a national disgrace for decades, run completely by liberals. Not sure you’re proving what you intend to prove.
My point is that Youngkin and the (R)s are yammering about CRT, which isn’t taught anywhere, while school systems white wash our entire history out. You might have had an entire semester to the Civil War, but I graduated without it ever having been covered at all. Not a single lesson. No quizzes nor tests. Nothing. If that level of whitewashing happened to me, I am sure it happens elsewhere to millions of other kids. That is the real controversy.
And as far as LAUSD being terrible, I agree. But I can find plenty of examples of even worse school systems in deep red (R) districts. Terrible schools are very much a bi-partisan condition.
Identity politics is taught everywhere. The left screams about “not technically CRT” when CRT is a leftist creation with a definition that shifts with the zeitgeist of the day. On previous posts, commenters asked for evidence of this. I listed 10-12 links from various sources and was censored. If you don’t like CRT, let’s say identity politics, and “equity” which is irrefutably taught everywhere, from the boardroom to the classroom. I challenge you to find any school or company that doesn’t have an “equity” statement. That’s what parents object to.
I’m sure you listed links and were censored. Convenient, try again? I’m still waiting for actual proof of CRT (hint what most on the right call CRT isn’t actually CRT, it’s their own definition of it). Please, enlighten us, hopefully you source is reputable too…..
CRT isnot taught overtly as a subject but the philosophy is infused in the curriculum. give me your contact info andI will sned you something about this. I have seen this stuff coming since the 1970’s, before I was married and had children. By the late 80’s, married w/3-children, I had become, “radicalized” as we said during the 60’s. None of what’s happening now is a surprise to me. You need to read John Dewey’s philosophy of education and acquaint yourself w/the writings of Antonio Gramsci. He drew the “Progressive” road map.
Post it here, it’s not that hard. I keep hearing excuses, time for someone to provide credible, documented evidence.
CA is not mainstream, certainly not the coastal area. Many folks migrate there so, “re-invent” themselves. Far fewer Californians visit the EC than EC folks visit CA. I lived there for almost 7 years, albiet only 33 mos. as an adult. Even so, I found most natives are simply oblivious if not apathetic about the restof the country. My cousin, for example who is the same age (73) as I am grew up in what he now admits was a, “bubble,” i.e., LA. of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Before he went to college, UHawaii, he had only visited family in Denver. He was homesick by the end o f his first semester @ UH. He returned to LA, did 2 years @ CC then fnished up @ UCLA. Not until hemarried a girl from the Bay Area did he ever get away from LA for any extended period of time. He never even visited the EC until 1975 and only a few times after that for business reasons. He now lives in a small town in the Central Valley. His second wife is from Madison, WI, a mid western girl like my mother. In recent years, my cousin looks back on his youth realizing he was insulated from so much. He disdained going back to LA and did so only to see his parents, both of whom are deceased. He grew up believing SoCal was the center of the world as so many as native New Yorkers regard NYC. I once met a kid in Paris who was from NYC. He claimed to be an art student. He was not at all impressed w/the City of Light” which has been a Mecca for creative people ever since only indegenous peoples lived on Manhattan. Don’t getme wrong. I love CA/LA, enjoy visiting but no longer would want to live there.
Lol I get censored here all the time
Wow. “Attacks public schools”? The same person who ran the old Annandale blog must be the same person. Still biased and pushing the white devil agenda for massa huh? Youngkin is a godsend.