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Virginia’s Gubernatorial Election Has Become a Referendum on Public Schools – Opinion

capitolhilltim

Virginia’s voters are set to go to the polls next week to elect their next governor. The defining issue in the race is school choice.—though perhaps not exactly in the way that libertarians would prefer.

Virginia law prohibits sitting governors from running for reelection. The two main-party candidates to succeed Democratic Governor are Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin. Democrat Terry McAuliffe who served as the governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018, and Republican Glenn Youngkin (the former CEO at The Carlisle Group, a venture-capital firm) are the two major-party candidates seeking to replace Ralph Northam. McAuliffe should have won the race easily in Virginia, which has only elected one Republican governor since 2002. The GOP also hasn’t won either a Senate or presidential election in Virginia since 2004.

McAuliffe could still win the election, although he stepped in to it last month during the final debate. McAuliffe answered a question regarding parent-led protests of school board members by saying “I do not believe that parents should tell schools what they should be teaching.”

The campaign ads have been bombarding Virginia airwaves with heavy rotation of this line for the past few weeks.

There are two ways to tell that the moment—and the ads it spawned—have significantly shifted the race. According to recent polls, school-age children’s parents are most likely to have higher levels of education than their peers. far more likely to support Youngkin

Second, McAuliffe has had to break one of the cardinal rules of political campaigns—nNever, ever, add fuel to your opponent’s attacks by acknowledging them—in order to respond directly with ads of his own arguing that Youngkin is somehow taking those words out of context:

McAuliffe will admit that some context is missing. Parents organized the Fairfax County protests against Toni Morrison’s county high school. Beloved A reading list for senior citizens. That’s a Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, not a porno rag. Although parents who do not want their children to read the book are free to object, banning books from schools is an overreaction. McAuliffe rejected the “Beloved Bill”, which would have made Virginia schools notify their parents about “sexually explicit” content on student reading lists.

McAuliffe’s answer to this debate controversy struck a chord like most of the greatest political gaffes. It seems that it perfectly summarizes the candidate. McAuliffe has been a loyal ally to the Clintons for many years. Teachers unions love him. Although he sent his kids to private school, he is against school choice. You know the type—in fact, there’s probably a few of them running your own local school board.

His sit-down-and-shut-up vibe also resonates in Virginia right now because the state’s northern suburbs—a crucial bellwether for both state and national elections—are pretty much ground zero for Republican-led school board culture wars. Loudoun County saw tensions rise as parents protested against the teaching of critical racism. Things heated up when a transgender student was convicted for sexually assaulting another student at school.

Youngkin has promised to save schools in his campaign, and it is clear that Republicans across the country expect Virginia’s governor to deliver. a roadmap for next year’s midtermsThis is. Youngkin’s win, even narrowly, will result in a culture wars doubling across the board.

The parents should have an equal say in their child’s education. But it is more important for political leaders to foster an educational system that allows for a diverse set of options—that is, one that allows families both a voice and an option to exit.

Youngkin promises to support Republicans in the battle for Virginia’s public schools boards. But that is really only a promise to make the culture wars continue to heat up. An alternative to these fights would be to offer families other options so it doesn’t really matter which political tribe holds the public school monopoly.

FREE MINDS

It’s a huge waste of time to all the hype surrounding the “Facebook Papers”. writes ReasonRobby Soave is the author.

Frances Haugen’s documents, which were leaked to the media by ex-Facebook employees, show that Facebook clearly prioritized misinformation over rage in its quest to grow. It seems that Facebook has been losing its younger user base and is being replaced by more agile, better-resourced competitors.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted these concerns during Monday’s call to investors.

Soave writes, “No amount of handwringing over addictive platforms and monopolistic practices will conceal the fact that this site is losing popularity among young people and looks increasingly like a dying Star.”

Free Markets

In the making is the world’s first commercial satellite station. Thanks to the collaboration of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin with several private spaceflight companies.

Orbital Reef The New York Times Reports indicate that the spacecraft could accommodate 10 astronauts at once and can be constructed by the middle of this decade.

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