Glenn Youngkin Bans Critical Race Theory in Public Schools, Issues 11 Executive Actions on First Day as Virginia Governor
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) issued 11 executive actions on his first day in office, including measures to ban critical race theory in public schools and prevent mandatory masking for students.
“It’s Day One, and we are going to work just like we promised,” Youngkin said in a press release. “The important steps we are taking today begins the work of restoring excellence in education, making our communities safer, opening Virginia for business and reinvigorating job growth, and making government work for the people, and not the other way around.”
His first executive order ends critical race theory and “the use of inherently divisive concepts” in public schools. CRT became a major flashpoint of the campaign, though the concept has not been widely taught within Virginia schools nor is mentioned in Virginia’s Standards of Learning.
“Inherently divisive concepts, like Critical Race Theory and its progeny, instruct students to only view life through the lens of race and presumes that some students are consciously or unconsciously racist, sexist, or oppressive, and that other students are victims,” the executive order reads. “This denies our students the opportunity to gain important facts, core knowledge, formulate their own opinions, and to think for themselves.”
An “inherently divisive concept” is defined in the order as something “advancing
any ideas in violation of Title IV and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
Other executive actions by Youngkin focused on lifting Covid-related restrictions, including the executive order banning school mask mandates and an executive directive rescinding the vaccination requirement for all state employees.
Other executive orders included terminating the current parole board, investigating the Loudon County Public Schools’ handling of a sexual assault allegation, and creating commissions to preventing human trafficking and combat anti-Semitism respectively. Youngkin also withdrew from the the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
