Youngkin won't release tipline emails through FOIA and reaffirms support of repealing the grocery tax
The latest in Virginia politics.
This is a daily newsletter covering Virginia politics from top to bottom. Please consider becoming the ultimate political insider by supporting non-partisan, independent news and becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter today.
The Rundown
In a return of the rumor mill, there is another name being circulated as a possible candidate for chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration is placing “confidential assistants” in executive branch agencies
The state Senate Education and Health Committee killed key legislation that is red meat for the Republican base in schools
Youngkin won’t release the divisive tip line emails through FOIA requests
Nearly every education committee in Virginia is imploring Youngkin to stop the tipline
Youngkin reaffirms support for repealing the grocery tax after legislators have stalled due to the potential impact on school funding
The Senate Education and Health committee killed GOP bills that they believed were “discriminatory and divisive”
House Education Subcommittee Chair Ghazala Hashmi (D) called the three Republican bills “discriminatory and divisive” on Thursday as she and her colleagues prevented them from advancing to the full Senate floor.
Three of the bills that were presented before the full Senate Education and Health Committee today:
SB 20 from Sen. Travis Hackworth (R) - It would have eliminated the requirement that each school board adopt policies that are consistent with the model policies developed by the Department of Education concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools.
SB 766 from Sen. Jen Kiggans (R) - It would have required each elementary or secondary school or a private school that competes in sponsored athletic events against such public schools to designate athletic teams, whether a school athletic team or an intramural team sponsored by such school, based on biological sex as follows: (i) "males," "men," or "boys"; (ii) "females," "women," or "girls"; or (iii) "coed" or "mixed." Under the bill, male students are not permitted to participate on any school athletic team or squad designated for "females," "women," or "girls"; however, this provision does not apply to physical education classes at schools. The bill provides civil penalties for students and schools that suffer harm as a result of a violation of the bill. Such civil actions are required to be initiated within two years after the harm occurred.
SB 570 from Sen. Jen Kiggans (R) - It would have required each public elementary or secondary school principal to ensure that no curriculum utilized or instruction delivered in the school includes inherently divisive concepts, as that term is defined in the bill, regardless of whether such curriculum or instruction is provided by a school board employee or any other individual or entity.
“These bills targeted LGBTQ students and students of color,” Hashmi said in a press release Thursday. “They discriminate against transgender students in particular and put wasteful, wholly unnecessary barriers around what can be taught in Virginia’s schools with the intent of whitewashing American history. Education is meant to develop students’ abilities to think critically and to be challenged by ideas and experiences.”
The mother of a transgender middle school student in Hanover County praised the committee for killing the bills Thursday. “These bills—especially SB20 and SB766—would promote a school environment where bullying against transgender children festers,” said Kelly Carter Merrill. “By rejecting this legislation, our school districts will be compelled to continue to work toward building an inclusive school climate for my child and other transgender students.”
Rumor Mill