Youngkin administration ends equity initiatives at the Virginia Department of Education

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EDUCATION | GOVERNMENT + POLITICS

Youngkin administration ends equity initiatives at the Virginia Department of Education

The move comes after the release of an interim report on ‘divisive concepts’ in schools

BY: KATE MASTERS - FEBRUARY 25, 2022 2:50 PM

In a push to end “divisive concepts” in Virginia education, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration is ending virtually all equity initiatives launched by the state’s Department of Education prior to the governor’s inauguration last month.

The policy changes, announced in an interim report from the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, hew closely to directives already issued by Youngkin in his first executive order. According to Balow, every resource listed on the department’s EdEquityVA website falls under the category of a “divisive concept,” including a 52-page “roadmap to equity” developed by the department under former Gov. Ralph Northam and Secretary of Education Atif Qarni.


Jillian Balow, Virginia’s superintendent of public instruction. (Wyoming Department of Education)

The Northam administration document details plans to “dismantle any and all forms of inequity in Virginia’s public education system,” including the disproportionate impact of disciplinary measures such as suspensions on Black students, which is well supported by state data and outside investigations. The roadmap explicitly supports concepts such as cultural competency training and anti-racism, defined as the acknowledgement “that racist beliefs and structures are pervasive in all aspects of our lives.”

The administration is also eliminating an audit tool intended to help local school divisions develop and implement their own equity initiatives. ... “All Virginia students should have the opportunity to receive an excellent education that teaches all history — the good and the bad, prioritizes academic excellence, and fosters equal opportunities for all students,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Our Virginia students should not be taught to discriminate on the basis of sex, skin color, or religion and VDOE policies should certainly not direct such concepts.”

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