Virginia news from The Daily Signal, covering state politics, education policy, election integrity, and the political shift between Northern Virginia and the Commonwealth’s conservative regions.
Virginia Democrats who voted to remove concerned parent Suparna Dutta from the state’s Board of Education on Tuesday should be “ashamed,” according to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office. “In an appalling show of partisanship, Senate Democrats said the quiet part out loud: Parents aren’t qualified to advise on education in Virginia,” Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter…
Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office said the Black Lives Matter at School toolkit released by a Virginia teachers union “will not be tolerated.” The Virginia Education Association’s Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action toolkit champions BLM’s 13 principles in the classroom. It uses kindergarten through 12th grade lesson plans made by the education…
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, is drawing a sharp contrast between his energy initiatives and those of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, saying he remains committed to withdrawing Virginia from a multistate climate pact and pulling away from California’s vehicle emission goals. Youngkin’s executive order calling on Virginia to “reevaluate” its participation in…
The game’s afoot on the legal definition of “sex.” What was once a commonsense understanding of “sex” as meaning the biological distinctions between male and female has—under recent leftist claims that sex includes “gender identity”—become a flashpoint for the culture wars and clogged the federal courts. Parents, legislators, and educators across the country are navigating…
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Wednesday that prosecutors will investigate one of the state's richest school districts and its celebrated science and tech school for “unlawful discrimination" in violation of state law. The move from Miyares, a Republican, follows concerns that Fairfax County Public Schools and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology…
School board members in Loudoun County, Virginia, took a beating from parents Tuesday night during an especially fiery public meeting. The meeting was parents’ first opportunity to express their displeasure since a 92-page special grand jury report, released Dec. 5, described how Loudoun County Public Schools egregiously mishandled two cases of sexual assault that threatened to disrupt…
A Virginia restaurant told the Family Foundation that it was no longer welcome to dine at the establishment because of the organization’s views on abortion and traditional marriage. The Daily Signal spoke with Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb on Monday morning outside the Supreme Court as the justices heard oral arguments in 303 Creative v….
Under the U.S. Constitution, only Congress possesses federal lawmaking power. But anyone familiar with the massive administrative state might question whether that’s true in practice. After all, federal agencies make a habit of acting as though there’s a special lawmaking power just for bureaucrats. On June 30, though, there was some good news on the…
It’s been an eventful month for decisions from the Supreme Court. Monumental decisions on issues of life, the Second Amendment, and religious freedom have now been followed up by West Virginia v. EPA, a decision that has major implications for checking runaway regulators and for the economy. In short, the Supreme Court shut down the…
With U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Fairfax County, Virginia, Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano refusing to enforce federal and state laws against the pro-abortion protesters who are intimidating and threatening Supreme Court justices and their families who live in Virginia, it’s time for Gov. Glenn Youngkin and state Attorney General Jason Miyares to step in…
Virginia is home to the largest education “honesty gap” in the country, according to a new report released by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 4-month-old administration. The report, “Our Commitment to Virginians: High Expectations and Excellence for All Students,” details what it calls “a clear and sobering lesson on the consequences for students when state leaders lower…
A Virginia mother is suing her son’s school district over its implementation of a critical race theory curriculum that she says radically changed his outlook on race and his own identity, Fox News reported. Melissa Riley is suing the Albemarle County School Board over its “anti-racism” policy that she believes completely shifted her biracial son’s…
Living as a Christian could get a student suspended from public school in Fairfax County, Virginia. Earlier this month, the school board conducted an annual review of its Regulation 2601, proposing edits to a 70-page-long document on “Student Rights and Responsibilities,” and parents noticed something shocking. According to a short provision buried deep in the document, students could face suspension…
A vandal or vandals painted pro-abortion graffiti on a pro-life pregnancy center over the weekend in Northern Virginia, about 32 miles from the nation’s capital. Employees of First Care Women’s Health in Manassas discovered the graffiti as they entered the building Monday morning, Becky Sheetz, CEO of the nonprofit Christian ministry Life First, which operates…
Three months into his tenure as Virginia’s attorney general, Jason Miyares is delivering on his promises to promote parental rights and punish violent criminals. Those issues animated voters last November and they’re now front and center for the state’s top law enforcement officer. Miyares is part of a trio of Republicans who sent shockwaves through…
A former administrator at a Virginia school is suing her county school board for creating an atmosphere of racial division and harassment that forced her to leave her job. Emily Mais was an assistant principal at Agnor-Hurt Elementary School in Charlottesville until she resigned in September 2021 after expressing concerns over mandatory, race-based teacher training. …
“Here we are again,” began an editorial in The Cavalier Daily, the University of Virginia’s student newspaper, urging censorship of a speaker at the university. Here we are again, indeed—yet another column adding to the national chorus decrying free speech, this time authored by the newspaper’s very own editorial board. At this point, sadly, pieces…
The city of Alexandria, Virginia, has canceled its planned commemoration of “National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers” on March 10, after city leaders received considerable objections from pro-life activists. “This proclamation has now been pulled from the agenda on Tuesday at my request,” Mayor Justin Wilson, a Democrat, said in a March 4 email,…
In a terrific win for parents, hardworking students, and those who want to end discrimination in our schools, a federal judge has thrown out the racist admissions policy of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a prestigious public magnet school in Fairfax County, Virginia. On Feb. 25, federal district court Judge Claude Hilton…
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is pursuing a multipronged strategy to dismantle climate change regulations and hold down energy costs, his press secretary told The Daily Signal. Government records indicate that Youngkin will rely on a mix of executive action, budget changes, and legislation to withdraw from the 11-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Some environmental activists…