Virginia Gov. GlennYoungkin is trying to force the Loudoun County School Board to face an early election, citing a need for accountability for the board.
is trying to force the Loudoun County School Board to face an early election, citing a need for accountability for the board, which over the past year has been embroiled in controversies over its handling of school reopenings and a high school sexual assault case.General Assembly that would require all nine members of the school board to stand for election a year earlier than they were initially scheduled.
The Loudoun County School District has been the epicenter of a national grassroots movement of parent activism motivated largely by the failure of school districts to open for in-person classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the incorporation of critical race theory and gay and transgender ideology into classroom instruction.
with ABC 7 in which he directly alluded to the school board's recent controversies in justifying his effort to schedule a new election. In the remarks, he said that the amendment would allow parents to elect a school board that would reflect their will. Youngkin, who was only elected in November 2021 and is barely three months into his four-year term, made parental education rights a central theme of his campaign and referenced the Loudoun School Board's botched handling of the sexual assault in numerous campaign ads.
In a day one executive order, the governor directed state Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate the board's handling of the assault.