At a campaign rally in Burke, Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s Republican candidate for governor unveiled an education plan Tuesday that includes more police in schools and more parental control over what’s being taught.
After his speech inside a packed hall at the Burke Volunteer Fire Department, Youngkin addressed the overflow crowd gathered outside.
Earlier in the evening, he began his campaign speech with a reference to a recent incident in Loudoun County, where a teenage boy charged with sexual assault at one school was allowed to transfer to another school, where he was later charged in a second sexual assault.
“I am calling for an immediate investigation into the Loudoun County School Board for their gross negligence,” Youngkin said.
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Officials say that both sex assaults were quickly reported to police. The school superintendent recently confirmed the county was being investigated by the Virginia Department of Education for discrepancies in reports of student sex assaults.
He went on to say that, if elected, he would require school resource officers to be present in every public school and would withhold funding from schools that do not comply.
He also promised to overturn Virginia law that gives principals leeway in reporting student actions to police that legally would be considered misdemeanors.
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"The time for closed-door conversation and silencing parents is over. We must fix this now," he said.
Youngkin promised to give parents more input on what is taught in schools, and vowed to forbid the teaching of critical race theory, a graduate school level body of scholarship that examines the intersection of race and U.S. law.
In response to Youngkin’s announcement, the campaign for Democratic challenger and former governor Terry McAuliffe released a statement that said in part: “Glenn Youngkin's entire campaign has been based on Donald Trump's divisive conspiracy theories, and tonight we saw more of the same -- angry Trumpian conspiracy theories and constant threats against public school funding.”
There are two weeks left until Election Day in one of the most hotly contested Virginia governor’s races in recent memory.
