governor youngkin report teachers

Glenn Youngkin Sets Up Tip Line To Report Teachers And You Know What Pranksters Did Next

Reporter, HuffPost

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ’s (R) tip line seeking reports of what he describes as “ divisive practices ” in schools — such as the teaching of critical race theory ― has been hit with fake complaints.

Qasim Rashid, a Virginia-based lawyer and former Democratic congressional candidate, tweeted some of the taunting messages that people claim to have sent to a dedicated email address after he sarcastically told followers not to “make a mockery of this.”

GOP VA Governor just set up a tip line to report schools & teachers who teach about racism. Email: [email protected] Whatever you do, don't make a mockery of this with fake tips. That would be a terrible thing to do. RT so everyone knows NOT to send fake tips. — Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) January 25, 2022

“Albus Dumbeldor was teaching that full blooded wizards discriminated against mudbloods!” read a “Harry Potter”-themed email reportedly sent to the tip line.

“Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and the baby looked at me!” said another message, referencing “The Simpsons.”

You guys. I explicitly said to NOT send fake racism tips to [email protected] and in response you all send this, pictured below.🤔 So I repeat—do not use the below as a guide on how to send fake racism tips directly to the VA GOP Governor’s Office. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/kSliAwHsbO — Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) January 25, 2022

It’s not the first time pranksters have overwhelmed a GOP reporting site, with similar action being taken against a Texas system to snitch on people who help others get abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Singer-songwriter John Legend, meanwhile, urged Black parents to flood the Virginia line “with complaints about our history being silenced.”

Black parents need to flood these tip lines with complaints about our history being silenced. We are parents too https://t.co/5cBdlahnyB — John Legend (@johnlegend) January 25, 2022

Our 2024 Coverage Needs You

It's another trump-biden showdown — and we need your help, the future of democracy is at stake, your loyalty means the world to us.

As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.

Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.

Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.

Can't afford to donate? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.

The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?

HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work. Any contribution you can make — even as little as $2 — goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.

It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.

But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.

Contribute as little as $2 to keep our journalism free and accessible to all.

Dear HuffPost Reader

Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.

Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.

Popular in the Community

From our partner, more in politics.

Youngkin Creates Tip Line to Report Mask Concerns, ‘Divisive Practices' in Schools

The tip line from the new virginia governor's office drew pushback from an naacp chapter, singer john legend and others, and included calls for people to spam the email address with irrelevant information, by julie carey, news4 northern virginia bureau chief and nbc washington staff • published january 25, 2022 • updated on january 26, 2022 at 7:22 pm.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin promoted an email address Tuesday where parents can send concerns and complaints about violations of students’ "fundamental rights" and any "divisive practices" in schools. Critics questioned whether the tip line was set up for anyone but the new Republican governor’s supporters.

The governor explained the purpose of the new tip line email addresss, [email protected], in an interview with conservative radio host John Fredericks.

Local School Districts Sue Virginia Governor Over Mask Order

FAQ: What to Know About Youngkin Lifting the School Mask Mandate

Some Virginia Parents Fight Mask Mandates

"... [It's] for parents to send us any instances where they feel that their fundamental rights are being violated, where their children are not being respected, where there are inherently divisive practices in their schools," Youngkin said.

We're making it easier for you to find stories that matter with our new newsletter — The 4Front. Sign up here and get news that is important for you to your inbox.

Youngkin brought up a recent, controversial "privilege bingo" assignment in a Fairfax County high school.

"We're asking for folks to send us reports and observations that they have that will help us be aware of things like privilege bingo, be aware of their child being denied their rights that parents have in Virginia. And we're going to make sure we catalog it all," Youngkin said.

Critical race theory was a major topic of Youngkin's campaign. Within hours of his inauguration, he issued an executive order banning CRT in schools, though it’s not part of any public school curriculum.

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how many emails the tip line had received.

Educators, John Legend, Others Criticize Tip Line

On Wednesday, some of the state's educators and school officials had strong words about the email.

"Hotline, tip line, snitch line - whatever you want to call it," Prince William County School Board Chair Babur Lateef said. "I don't see how this will solve any real problems."

"We question why he has singled out Virginia's educators," Virginia Education Associated President James Fedderman said.

Youngkin’s tip line also drew pushback from a local NAACP chapter, singer John Legend and others, and included calls for Black parents to share their concerns and for people to spam the email address with irrelevant information.

Loudoun County NAACP President Michelle Thomas questioned why parents would need the new email address when they can turn to the attorney general’s civil rights division with concerns.

"This tip line has to be for everybody, not just for his supporters, right?" she said.

Legend took to social media to urge Black parents to flood the email address with complaints "about our history being silenced."

"We are parents too," Legend wrote on Twitter.

The Virginia Teen Democrats and Texas activist Olivia Julianna, who has 170,000 TikTok followers, were among those who urged their social media audience to bombard the line with irrelevant emails.

Fierce Fight Continues Over Masks in Virginia Schools

Several school districts in Northern Virginia that kept mask mandates in place have filed suit against Youngkin , saying his order allowing parents to decide whether their children wear masks or not is unconstitutional and endangers children.

On Monday, Loudoun County parent Heather Jermacans blasted school administrators when they isolated her children after they came to class without masks.

"No! I'm not picking my child up. She has an IEP and I will call my lawyer next," video shows Jermacans shouting to her daughter's school administrators.

Jermacans said Tuesday that she and her sister, whose kids also attended school unmasked, plan to register complaints through Youngkin’s new parent email portal.

"They are being segregated. They are in a room. They don’t go outside for breaks," she said. "I can’t even explain the stories they come home with, and it's only been two days."

This article tagged under:

Virginia’s governor set up a tip line to crack down on CRT. Parents used it for other reasons

• USA TODAY received copies of a sampling of the emails sent to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin through a tip line he set up targeting critical race theory.
• One woman accounted for nearly half of the records, flagging various instances of alleged special education violations
• Few of the email reports related to curriculum  or divisive teaching practices

Complaints about special education violations. Praise for teachers. Concerns about academic rigor and options. 

These are some of the main themes in a sampling of the emails sent to a so-called tip line set up by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin earlier this year for parents to report, as he put it , “any instances where they feel that their fundamental rights are being violated” and schools are engaging in “inherently divisive practices.” The email tip line was part of a larger campaign by the governor to root out the teaching of critical race theory . But few of the tips flag the types of practices Youngkin was describing.

The records became public this week through a settlement between the governor’s office and 13 media organizations, including the USA TODAY Network, which in April had sued for the emails after requests to see the correspondence were denied. 

Youngkin has said the submissions are protected by exemptions to Virginia open records law for a governor’s “working papers and correspondence.” Some fraction of the tips sent to [email protected], however, were also sent to people in the Virginia Department of Education, and those email records were provided as part of the settlement. The remaining records have not been made public.

The January announcement about Youngkin’s tip line was met with immediate criticism and a surge of activity. All of the emails in the 350-record sample were dated in the first few months of 2022.

Despite the hundreds of records in the selection of emails, they comprise a small, vocal group of people at about three dozen email addresses who often reiterated their grievances in multiple missives. 

Based on USA TODAY’s analysis of the sample, which may not be representative of what the governor has received, much of the activity may not have been what he was looking for. CRT, the graduate school-level framework that examines how racism continues to shape society, came up rarely. 

“I explained to him that I was going to use that tip line to address issues that are real – not red-herring issues,” said Kandise Lucas, a special education advocate who accounted for nearly half of the email records obtained by the media organizations. 

Virginia governor's tip line: Why it sparked new critical race theory concerns in schools

Gov. Youngkin's parents' rights campaign ‘failed us’

Lucas, a mother of two and a former special education teacher, has worked for the past decade and a half as an advocate helping other Virginia parents navigate alleged special education and civil rights violations. “My main concern is that his mantra of ‘parents’ rights’ doesn’t apply to all parents,” she said

Of the 350 email records, some of which are part of the same message thread, roughly 160 involved Lucas. In her correspondence (which one hearing officer who was copied on some of the threads derided as “blast emails”), Lucas described instances of parents allegedly being denied requests for special education services, evaluations and documentation, among other violations. Many of the cases involve families of color and those who don’t speak English as a first language.  

Lucas, a former school board candidate who has been involved in numerous lawsuits involving special education and arrested multiple times for her activism, was hopeful Youngkin would deliver on his promise of protecting parents’ “fundamental rights.” She said she voted for him and even helped his wife hold education roundtables ahead of his November 2021 election. 

Lucas and the other special education “momvocates” in her network “expected some serious change to be made,” she said. They envisioned a future in which they would no longer be “silenced” or “retaliated against.”

But in Lucas’s view, that didn’t happen. She says she never heard back from the governor’s office or education department officials. “My primary purpose was to raise the issue of how the governor failed us,” Lucas said. “He won an election on how parents matter; parents voted for him because he validated their voice. And we learn now, 10 months into his tenure, that we don’t really matter.”

'My kid matters, too': Parents ask why students in special education programs are sent home early

Virginia parents complain about instruction – but not CRT

Exasperation appeared to be a common sentiment among the parents included in our sample, whether in relation to special education, instructional quality and rigor, equity or COVID-related policies. Roughly 10 people sent emails to the tip line complaining about mask mandates.

Just a handful of the emails dealt with issues relating to curriculum. One parent in Loudoun County, whose name was redacted, was infuriated that they had to submit public records requests to get copies of the lesson plans and learning objectives for their child’s seventh-grade English, history/social studies and biology classes. 

"As a Parent, I have the right to validate (through the Lesson Plans) that [my child] is NOT being taught divisive concepts (or in Biology not being taught divisive gender-bending LGBT-campaigns with overly sexualized lesson content)," the parent wrote in an email.

One complaint about teaching practices came from a student. “Much to my dismay, my teacher has based the entire curriculum around Critical Theory,” wrote the high school senior in Montgomery County. “The first book we are reading is ‘Beowulf.’ All my teacher wants to talk about is how the book is sexist because it portrays the warriors as men and not women.”

Another shared excerpts of seven controversial books in their school libraries, including George M. Johnson's  All Boys Aren't Blue.  "These books distort what healthy relationships are and rob our children of their innocence," the person wrote.

Critical race theory: Parents want kids to learn about ongoing effects of slavery but not CRT

Schools banned books 2,532 times since 2021: It's all part of a 'full-fledged' movement

Some parents were concerned about their child’s placement and curriculum. One frustrated parent said their child shouldn’t have been put in classes for students who aren’t native English speakers.

Mital Gandhi, a father of two in Loudoun County who was involved in 23 of the records, copied the tip line on an email to education department officials as part of his attempts to get accelerated math options reinstated in his district.

Loudoun County Public Schools had eliminated the Algebra 1 option for sixth-graders as a matter of equity, Gandhi said, yet his older son, then in fifth grade, loved and excelled at math and craved the rigor. “How do you take courses away from people who want to be challenged? How is that equity?” Gandhi said. 

So Gandhi, a former PTA president, pushed district leaders to restore that offering and, unsatisfied with their responses, which pointed to state guidance, ran his grievances further up the flagpole. 

This school year, sixth graders in LCPS once again have the option of taking Algebra 1, and some – including Gandhi’s son – are taking advantage. "I didn't see (the tip line) as a tattletale line but something that helped level the playing field for parents like me,” Gandhi told USA TODAY. “When Gov. Youngkin got elected things changed for the benefit of parents and of students.”

The emails show a Henrico County parent also had her grievances addressed after emailing the tip line, in her case receiving acknowledgment from the education department that it would better enforce a rule giving parents 30 days notice before conducting surveys of students.

The GOP is gaining clout on education: Parents say Democrats are to blame.

Virginia parents prepare for midterms

The email sample suggests instances of teachers engaging in “divisive practices” were rare. “CRT is not the threat,” Lucas wrote in some of the emails sent to both the tip line and education department officials. “Not complying with IDEA is,” she said, referring to federal law governing the education of students with disabilities.

Youngkin, who had never before held elected office, ran and won in part on a platform of empowering parents. Some of his first acts after being sworn in were to sign executive orders allowing parents to decline to have their children wear masks at school and targeted what Youngkin labeled as "inherently divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory" in the classroom. 

Since then, Youngkin has continued on his mission of bolstering parents’ rights, though some fear it’s at the expense of students. In September, he proposed rolling back a policy by his predecessor, Democrat Ralph Northam, that would have required schools to honor students’ requests to be called by a different name or gender than what they were assigned at birth. It also allowed students to use restrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity. Youngkin’s revision would allow those choices – only if parents approve. 

'Taking control of our own lives': Virginia students walk out over reversal of transgender protections

That and other policy moves, including the anti-CRT campaign, have earned Youngkin the ire of many on the left. 

Groups representing teachers, counselors, parents, superintendents and others in Virginia’s education system wrote to Youngkin asking him to shut down the tip line. 

"The tip line that Governor Youngkin established for parents and citizens to report teachers, principals, or instructional materials directly to the Governor’s office, based on a subjective definition of ‘divisive,’ has already proven to be divisive itself,” the groups said in a joint statement . “The tip line will impede parent-to-school collaboration and directly undermine the very factors that educators know contribute to student success, including having high-quality teachers in classrooms."

Glenn Youngkin: Can he convince the GOP base to choose him as the 2024 presidential nominee?

Former teacher Sheila Jones, a member of the Virginia Education Association, also used the tip line liberally, and also not for the reason Youngkin intended: She sent the governor glowing notes about teachers she’s worked with in school districts all over Virginia.

Her intent, she said, was to counteract some of the contempt for teachers she felt Youngkin had inspired. 

“One minute we’re fantastic and the next minute we’re being vilified,” said Jones, who lives in Chesapeake and is on medical leave from work supervising and training teachers of physical education and other subjects. “It felt like a witch hunt.”

When she heard nothing in response for days, she began looping the Virginia Department of Education into her notes.

“I have written a tip a day for the past 34 days about 36 outstanding teachers in Virginia,” she began one March note. “I have received no response from your office (not even an auto-reply from your tip line).”

Jones shared her notes with the teachers she wrote about, some of whom said they felt honored and that the emails could not have come at a better time.

“While none of the teachers chose the profession for the money, fair compensation and respect are not too much to ask,” Jones closed one email to Youngkin. “I hope this tip is helpful to your office.”

A spokeswoman for the governor confirmed on Thursday that the tip line was deactivated in September, having "received little to no volume." Constituents, she said, are still able to send confidential correspondence to the governor through other methods. 

Despite public criticisms and decline in activity,   the teacher tip line is getting heaps of praise from the person who started it: Youngkin. Speaking Tuesday at an appearance in Petersburg, where he helped cut the ribbon on a new $8 million downtown park-and-ride deck, the governor sounded pleased with the messages the line had received.

"We get emails, we get phone calls, we get letters," Youngkin said, stressing his constituent services office continues to receive "basic input." "And all of that just makes me a better governor, and I think those are the kinds of things that have allowed us to be responsive to needs in Virginia."

He was not willing to divulge the overall nature of any of those messages, saying that content is "confidential between whoever sent it and the governor's office."

The governor’s staff did not answer repeated questions about how many tips Youngkin has received in all or whether he has responded to or acted on any of the messages

The left-leaning nonprofit ethics watchdog group American Oversight represented by the law firm Ballard Spahr also sued Youngkin in August about the tip line, looking to find out his response to tips sent to the email address, if any. Ballard Spahr also represented the news organizations in their suit.

The group said it hasn’t received any information about any responses. And on Monday, Youngkin’s office asked a court to throw out the suit.

“They have done nothing with this stuff,” American Oversight’s chief counsel Dan Schwager said in an interview. “That doesn’t seem like a credible way to implement a policy.”

If the sampling of emails is any indication, many parents are underwhelmed with Youngkin’s education achievements thus far. And that could have a bearing on the midterms.

A lot of the parents Lucas knows are “going to send his whole party a strong message in this next election about being betrayed,” she said.

Contributing: Chris Quintana, USA TODAY; Bill Atkinson, Progress-Index

Contact Alia Wong at (202) 507-2256 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @aliaemily.

Virginia's new Republican governor, who banned critical race theory in schools, is launching a tip line for parents to report their kids' teachers

• Virginia's newly elected governor banned teaching critical race theory in his first month in office.
• Gov. Glenn Youngkin promoted a government email to which parents could report teachers.
• He said parents can report public-school teachers if they believe they're "behaving objectionably."

Virginia's newly elected Republican governor, who has banned critical race theory in public schools, is launching a tip line to report teachers of "divisive subjects."

In a Monday interview with the conservative radio host John Fredericks, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said parents could email the state government to report any public-school teachers they believed to be "behaving objectionably." 

Youngkin said: "We're asking for folks to send us reports and observations that they have that will help us be aware of things like privilege bingo, be aware of their child being denied their rights that parents have in Virginia. And we're going to make sure we catalog it all.

Related stories

"This gives us a great insight into what's happening at a school level, and that gives us further ability to make sure we're rooting it out."

Youngkin, the first Republican to win the state in more than 10 years, was sworn into office earlier this month.

He made critical race theory — an academic practice developed by legal scholars to examine the ongoing effects of racism in American policies and institutions — a key component of his 2021 campaign.

Youngkin banned the teaching of "inherently divisive concepts" on his first day in office . The order cited critical race theory as an example. 

The order was issued even though critical race theory was never part of the state's public-school curriculum, The Washington Post reported.

As one of his first moves in office, Youngkin also removed school mask requirements statewide , allowing parents to opt out of compulsory mask rules in classrooms and prompting several school districts to defy the move.

• Main content

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

A 'tip line' championed by Virginia Gov. Youngkin last year has been quietly shut down

Scott Simon

Ben Paviour

A tip line championed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has been quietly shut down. It was intended for parents to report "inherently divisive practices" in schools.

Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Quick hits from the Mother Jones newsroom .archive.tax-blogs.term-mojo-wire .page-header #banner, #main.category-mojo-wire #banner {height:110px;margin-top:47px}

Glenn youngkin set up a tip line to snitch on teachers. it’s only gotten weirder since., a saturday night live send-up, tiktok spammers, and rejected records requests..

Arianna Coghill

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks during a news conference about an executive order establishing K through 12 lab schools at the Capitol Thursday Jan. 27, 2022, in Richmond, Va. Steve Helber/AP

It’s only been a week since Gov. Glenn Youngkin launched a tip line that allows parents to report any teachers or school administrators teaching “divisive” subjects, like critical race theory, in Virginia schools. Within days, the tip line was spoofed on  Saturday Night Live and flooded  with fake tips. And now the governor’s office is refusing to make the complaints public.

Its reasoning ? All the emails sent to this tip line are “working papers and correspondences” for Youngkin’s “personal or deliberative” use. 

On January 26, Margaret Thornton, a post-doctoral scholar at Princeton whose research focuses on segregation in schools, filed a public records request to see the emails. Five business days later, her request was denied. The governor’s office cited Section 2.2-3705.7, which basically means that the records are protected under executive privilege.

Turns out that @GovernorVA is claiming all the emails sent to [email protected] are his own correspondence. pic.twitter.com/sMP4xYUduQ — Margaret Thornton, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) (@MaggieEThornton) February 2, 2022

As a native Virginian, Thornton wanted to see what parents were saying and it how it could affect Virginia’s teachers and students. “I was a high school teacher in Virginia for many years. I graduated here in Virginia,” Thornton told me. “I care so much about education in our commonwealth. And I’m concerned that this tip line is going to have a chilling affect on teachers and teaching. I’m an educational researcher, so of course I support teacher accountability, but I don’t think an anonymous tip line is the way to go about it.” 

And she wasn’t the only one whose request was denied: Several local publications , like the Daily Progress and the Virginian Pilot , received either the same response or no response at all. (I filed a request under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act on February 1 and have not heard anything back.) Under Virginia law , the governor’s office has up to five business days to respond to such requests. 

The Governor’s office seems to think it is above well-established Virginia laws, including VA FOIA. It is not. pic.twitter.com/oj93TrRxFH — Patrick Elliott (@WhereIsPatrick) February 2, 2022

Meanwhile, Virginia Democrats have jumped all over Youngkin for the tip line and the denied records requests. “This is now how FOIA works,” tweeted Democratic state Sen. L. Louise Lucas. “If the Governor wants to set up a tip line to report teachers who mention Black History, he shouldn’t be hiding what he ‘finds.'” 

And it doesn’t appear that the controversy will go away anytime soon: On Thursday, seven Virginia organizations representing educators released a statement calling for Youngkin to scrap the tip line entirely. 

INBOX: Pretty much every education group in the state is calling on Youngkin to rescind EO 1 and shut down the tip line. pic.twitter.com/u4k38m8qYm — 🗯 Katherine Knott (@Knott_Katherine) February 3, 2022

If parents are genuinely curious about what’s being taught in their children’s classrooms, Princeton’s Thornton recommends they talk to their children’s teachers directly through a phone call or email, not through the hotline. “Reaching out and having that dialogue can do wonders. When I was a classroom teacher, I loved to hear from parents,” she said. “Even if they were disagreeing with something that went on the classroom, just knowing that they are invested in their students’ education was really helpful.”

Virginia’s Youngkin Taps Former Coal Lobbyist for Top Environmental Job

Chris D’Angelo

Republican Glenn Youngkin Wins Virginia Governor Race

Isabela Dias

Virginia GOP Candidate Glenn Youngkin Financed a PAC That Supports 2020 Deniers and 1/6 Apologists

Tribal Leaders Ban Gov. Kristi Noem from Twenty Percent of South Dakota

Julianne McShane

We Recommend

The Founder of Mother’s Day Mostly Cared About Her Own Mother

Nina Martin

UN Officials Describe “Absolutely Catastrophic” Conditions in Gaza

Melania Trump Says Hell No to Barron Serving as a GOP Delegate

Sponsored Post

Navigating Farm and Ranch Transfers to a New Generation

American Farmland Trust

Hammerhead Sharks Are Back in the Caribbean: “I Could Not Believe It”

David Shiffman

Israel Orders New Rafah Evacuations

Why RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm and Other Parasites Deserve Your Respect

Jesse Nichols

Steve Bannon Still Isn’t in Prison, but He’s a Little Closer

Dan Friedman

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use , and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones ' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Independent. In print. In your mailbox.

Inexpensive, too! Subscribe today and get a full year of Mother Jones for just $14.95.

Bold. Brave. Beautiful.

Award-winning photojournalism. Stunning video. Fearless conversations.

Looking for news you can trust?

We noticed you have an ad blocker on..

Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism? We're a nonprofit (so it's tax-deductible), and reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget.

We noticed you have an ad blocker on. Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism?

Don't let an algorithm decide what news you see.

Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Gov. Youngkin creates tip line to report concerns such as violation of parent's fundamental rights in schools

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - Governor Youngkin has created a helpline for parents, teachers, and students to report their concerns, input, or to ask any question.

"The governor’s office set up [email protected] as a resource for parents, teachers, and students to relay any questions or concerns. Governor Youngkin was elected to serve all Virginians and has utilized a customary constituent service, to hear from Virginians and solicit feedback," the governor's spokesperson Macaulay Porter states.

The governor recently was on WJFN radio to discuss his recently signed executive orders , including removing the mask mandate from schools and banning critical race theory from classrooms.

Youngkin tells parents to trust the legal process on the radio interview when asked what parents should do if a school defies the executive order. He tells Virginian parents that he won't stop fighting for their fundamental rights.

During the WJFN interview, Youngkin explained what his first executive order that bans "inherently divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory" from being taught in schools means.

"We are indeed going to teach all history. The good and the bad. But we are going to get these inherently divisive teaching practices out of the classroom," he said.

Youngkin gave an example of how a Fairfax County school played a privileged bingo game in a high school classroom.

During the interview, Youngkin announced the purpose of the tip line. He says parents can use the email to report if their fundamental rights are violated, if their children aren't being respected, or if there are any divisive concepts, like CRT, being taught in school.

"We're asking for input right from parents to make sure that we can go right to the source as we continue to make sure that Virginia's education system is on the path for reestablished excellence," the governor said.

We spoke with local parents to find out their reactions to the newly formed tip line.

One parent in favor, Lindsey Bohon, tells us she supports this idea.

"I worry about deliberate ideologies being taught - rather than appropriate content and context. There should be a place to report it," she said. She also added that she feels the first step is to contact the teacher with any issue.

A Chesapeake parent and teacher says the word divisive is very subjective and asks who even determines what is divisive.

"This just drives a bigger wedge into something that's already fractured," Amanda Lambert, a parent and teacher of Chesapeake Public Schools.

Another Chesapeake teacher tells us she is strongly against the tip line. She says this feels like the 60's all over again.

"This is going to create absolutely 100% make the teacher shortage a bigger and bigger problem," Joy Gavin, a Chesapeake teacher says.

To report any concerns or to ask a question, email [email protected]

Sign up for the Headlines Newsletter and receive up to date information.

Now signed up to receive the headlines newsletter..

St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway

Gov. Youngkin sets up email tip line to report ‘divisive’ teaching practices

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Governor Glenn Youngkin says he wants parents to keep an eye out for “critical race theory” and “divisive practices” within Virginia schools.

Now, there’s tip line where parents can report their child’s school.

In an interview with conservative radio host John Fredericks , Youngkin said he wants to catalog instances where schools have defied his ban on CRT.

He pointed to the recent controversy surrounding the “privilege bingo” game in Fairfax Schools as one example, but many teachers find the tip line offensive.

A spokesperson for the governor said the [email protected] email address is “a resource for parents, teachers, and students to relay any questions or concerns.”

Copyright 2022 WWBT. All rights reserved.

Faint aurora lights spotted Saturday night

Roanoke street reopened after closing due to motorcycle crash

Blue Ridge Rock Festival canceled for 2024

No injuries reported after Bedford County crash into building

The week ahead is trending damp and cool

Latest news.

Alexa House Mission Center dedicated to lost members of the community, will host families experiencing homelessness

Lynchburg Peacemakers spreading love for unsung heroes on Monday’s Day

Motorcycle business celebrates Mother’s day

Lynchburg Peacemakers Mother's Day Celebration

Alexa House Dedication

• CRIMINAL JUSTICE + POLICING
• ENERGY + ENVIRONMENT
• GOV + POLITICS

Youngkin outlines steps to address teacher shortage in executive directive

Teacher advocates raise concerns over teacher pay, highly politicized working environments, by: nathaniel cline - september 1, 2022 6:22 pm.

Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera and Governor Glenn Youngkin at Colonial Forge High School on Sept. 1, 2022. (Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)

Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive directive on Thursday that aims to address teacher shortages in Virginia through strategies that include hiring retired educators and targeting recruitment and retention efforts toward communities most in need.

His directive comes as the nation and Virginia face shortages of teachers due to such possible causes as highly charged political battles over education, the pandemic and dissatisfaction with wages. 

“I’m frustrated that we have a shortage right now,” said Youngkin. “It’s been a persistent shortage over many years, and it hasn’t been closed, and that’s why today’s executive directive is focused on the near-term challenges, but also getting at some of these long-term solutions.”

Data from school divisions, which report their unfilled positions annually on Oct. 1, showed that Virginia’s teacher vacancies more than doubled from 1,063 in 2019 to 2,563 in 2021.

The Virginia Department of Education said the most critical teacher shortage areas are in elementary education followed by special education and middle school education.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow and Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera joined the governor along with Republican Dels. Tara Durant and Phil Scott, who represent parts of Stafford County, on Thursday at Colonial Forge High School for the announcement of the new executive directive. The group joined community leaders, teachers and students to discuss plans for addressing statewide learning loss .

Under the directive, Balow will be permitted to issue teaching and renewal licenses to out-of-state and retired teachers whose licenses may have lapsed. Guidera and others from the administration  will be charged with developing legislative proposals to loosen regulations for teacher licensure and policies to support the provision of child care inside schools.

Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Gary Pan and Balow will also establish an apprenticeship program with school divisions to train and license new teachers, including paraprofessional educators. 

Additionally, Youngkin directed education officials to establish a statewide model policy to create an apprenticeship program to train high school students to become child care providers and asked officials to raise teachers’ awareness of the state’s Child Care Subsidy Program , which assists families with child care costs.

Officials are directed to target grants for recruitment and retention bonuses to school divisions with the greatest teacher turnover.

Funds will also be targeted to improve teacher benefits under the directive. 

On Thursday, Youngkin touted lawmakers’ inclusion in the state budget of 10% raises for teachers over the next two years, as well as funding for lab schools and school construction and renovations.

However, teacher advocates raised concerns over teacher pay and highly politicized working environments. 

James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association, an organization that represents more than 40,000 teachers and school support professionals, said the governor’s directive has ideas the membership can support but doesn’t offer serious investments to address the teacher shortage.

Fedderman said educators have been seeking competitive salaries and additional aid to high-poverty schools through the at-risk add-on — a funding tool that allocates additional dollars to low-income students.

10 teaching endorsement areas with critical shortages, 2022-23

• Elementary education, pre-K-6
• Special education
• Middle education, grades 6-8
• Career and technical education
• Mathematics grades 6-12 (including Algebra 1)
• Science (secondary)
• Foreign language pre-K-12
• English (secondary)
• History and social science (secondary)
• Health and physical education

Source: Virginia Department of Education

Additionally, he said educators recommend lifting the “support cap,” which limits state aid for critical school positions, investing in community school models to break down barriers to education faced by many students and fully funding the Standards of Quality set by the Virginia Board of Education.

“Our current budget surplus could be used effectively to solve this problem, which affects all Virginia’s citizens,” Fedderman said. “By what he decides to do with those funds, our governor will show us if he truly values education and solving our teacher shortages.”

Democratic Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg, who is a teacher and represents Henrico, said the directive makes sense and he supports the efforts by the governor’s administration, but there needs to be more.

“I think anything we can do is doing right by kids,” said VanValkenburg. “I like that pay is moving in the right direction and I hope that he continues forward like Gov. [Ralph] Northam did in making us more competitive with teacher pay, but he’s also got to stop politicizing the classroom because the constant politicization of curriculum, teachers and public schools is dragging down morale and people don’t like working in a work environment that’s toxic.”

Other challenges potentially linked to recruitment and retention problems include inadequate funding for schools that are not fully accredited.

Schools without full accreditation have a higher concentration of inexperienced teachers compared to fully accredited schools, found one VEA report .

Additionally, schools without full accreditation had twice the teacher vacancy rates in October 2021 than fully accredited schools.

The Department of Education will not have data on unfilled teacher positions for 2022-23 until next fall. Data on unfilled teacher vacancies for 2021-22 are expected in the fall.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.

Nathaniel Cline

Nathaniel is an award-winning journalist who's been covering news across the country since 2007, including politics at The Loudoun Times-Mirror and The Northern Neck News in Virginia as well as sports for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. He has also hosted podcasts, worked as a television analyst for Spectrum Sports, and appeared as a panelist for conferences and educational programs. A graduate of Bowie State University, Nathaniel grew up in Hawaii and the United Kingdom as a military brat. Five things he must have before leaving home: his cellphone, Black Panther water bottle, hand sanitizer, wedding ring and Philadelphia Eagles keychain.

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom , the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

Related News

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.

Gov. Youngkin names Virginia Teacher of the Year

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, May 8, 2024

By Staff Report

Avanti Yamamoto, a mathematics teacher at Hanover County Public Schools’ Atlee High School, was named the 2025 Virginia Teacher of the Year at an announcement ceremony hosted by Governor Glenn Youngkin on Capitol Square Monday afternoon. Yamamoto was selected last month as one of the Commonwealth’s eight regional teachers of the year and is now Virginia’s nominee for 2025 National Teacher of the Year.  

“The eight teachers here today represent the best of their profession, and it is wonderful to have the opportunity to celebrate Virginia teachers across the Commonwealth who work tirelessly to educate, prepare, and grow our students,” Youngkin said. “Congratulations to Avanti Yamamoto, a fantastic teacher who will be a great representative for all educators in the Commonwealth.”  

“We are proud to have Avanti represent all of Virginia as our Teacher of the Year, but we’re also blessed to have seven other exceptional teachers serving as representatives of their communities and fellow educators,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons.  

Following interviews Monday morning with each of the eight regional winners, a selection committee chose Avanti Yamamoto, the 2025 Region One Teacher of the Year. The committee included representatives of educational institutions, the business community, and school divisions.  

REGIONAL TEACHERS HONORED  

The seven other 2025 Virginia Regional Teachers of the Year — who were also honored during Monday evening’s ceremony — are:  

• Chanda L. Woods, an integrated language arts teacher at Newport News Public Schools’ Crittenden Middle School (Region 2).  

• Beth Marshall, a French teacher at Spotsylvania County Public Schools’ Riverbend High School (Region 3).  

• Darnell Greene, a mathematics teacher at Manassas Park City Schools’ Manassas Park Middle School (Region 4).  

• Genevieve Weaver, an adapted special education teacher at Bedford County Public Schools’ Jefferson Forest High School (Region 5).  

• Candace Nichole Carrier, a career and technical education – agricultural education teacher at Montgomery County Public Schools’ Blacksburg High School (Region 6).  

• Andy Holmes, a band director at Smyth County Public Schools’ Marion Senior High School and Marion Middle School (Region 7).  

• Emily Wilson Overstreet, a visual arts teacher at Cumberland County Public Schools’ Cumberland Elementary School (Region 8).  

“I am thankful to have our Regional Teachers of the Year begin serving as members of our Teacher Advisory Council, helping elevate the voices and perspectives of teachers across the Commonwealth,” said Coons.  

Following the ceremony, Mrs. Yamamoto and the other teachers were honored at a reception hosted by the Governor and First Lady Suzanne S. Youngkin.  

The 2025 National Teacher of the Year will be announced next spring at a White House ceremony.  

More Education

Members of Congress drop by Lunenburg County for a visit

Lunenburg County students learn about the market

County schools earn state honors.

Students get prepared

• Classifieds
• Public Notices
• Small Business
• Terms of Use
• © 2024, Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch

Virginia News | Dozens of students walk out as Gov. Youngkin…

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on X (Opens in new window)

Evening Edition

• Latest Headlines
• Courts and Crime
• Environment

Virginia News

Virginia news | dozens of students walk out as gov. youngkin speaks at vcu.

Among the colleges scheduled to hold their main commencement ceremonies Saturday are the University of Illinois; California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and the University of Texas at Austin, with many increasing their security measures in anticipation of possible disruptions.

The University of Wisconsin said it had reached a deal with protesters to clear the encampment before Saturday’s commencement in return for a meeting to discuss the university’s investments. At the University of Mississippi, where there had been a confrontation between counterprotesters who taunted and jeered a female Black student protester, there were no demonstrations and light security.

At VCU, where the ceremony included more than 1,000 students, some objected to the appearance by Youngkin, a Republican, in part because he supported the dismantling of an encampment on campus. Late last month, 13 people, including six students, were arrested. A reporter in attendance at the graduation was not permitted to leave the auditorium to speak with the students who walked out.

CNU graduates reflect on how pandemic shaped their college experience

On Friday, some commencement-related events were disrupted as protests and arrests continued on campuses. At UC Berkeley, a handful of people chanted about the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip at a ceremony for law school graduates, at times drowning out speakers, including the law school dean and the solicitor general of the United States. At the University of Texas at Dallas, the university president paused his speech when about two dozen graduates walked out chanting.

Police made arrests and cleared encampments of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Friday at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Officers were also called in to clear an encampment at the University of Arizona in Tucson, deploying “chemical munitions” in the process, hours before its graduation ceremony Friday evening.

More in Virginia News

Virginia Politics | Virginia budget includes plans for Hampton Roads: Toll relief funding, skill games, gun violence prevention and more

Virginia News | Virginia school board votes to restore Confederate names to 2 schools

Virginia News | Virginia judge to decide whether state law considers embryos as property

Virginia Politics | Budget deal reached by Virginia governor and negotiators

Trending nationally.

• NASA watchdog report: 100+ cracks on heat shield biggest threat to human moon mission
• Babies “R” Us is returning with 200 locations nationwide. Here are the details.
• Catholics last year reported a possible miracle to the Vatican. Why it’s in a ‘holding pattern.’
• Python hunters must humanely kill snakes: How Florida has cracked down in contests through the years
• New COVID ‘FLiRT’ variants are spreading nationwide. Chicago health experts urge up to date vaccination.

Virginia Budget Leaders Reach Compromise With Governor on State Spending Plan

Virginia budget negotiators and Gov. Glenn Youngkin have reached a compromise on the next two-year state spending plan

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia budget negotiators and Gov. Glenn Youngkin have reached a compromise on the next two-year state spending plan that would include 3% raises for state employees and teachers while not raising taxes and risking a potential veto by Youngkin.

House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian confirmed Thursday that the General Assembly's budget leaders have reached a deal with Youngkin that they hope lawmakers will approve during a special session scheduled to begin on Monday.

Youngkin’s press secretary, Christian Martinez, said in a statement that Youngkin "looks forward to finishing the work to deliver on our collective priorities for all Virginians next week.”

Details of the new spending plan won't be available to lawmakers or to the public until Saturday. Torian told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the agreement includes additional state revenues to pay for Democratic spending priorities, including the raises for teachers and state employees, as well as money to restrain increases in tuition for state universities and colleges, help people with mental illness and pay for increased costs to Virginia's Medicaid program.

“All of our spending priorities are intact,” Torian said.

The $188 billion budget will not expand Virginia’s sales tax to digital services. Youngkin had originally proposed the idea as part of a tax policy package that would have cut tax revenues by $1 billion and plug what the governor called the “big tech loophole” that exempts video streaming and audio services from the tax levied on goods.

Democrats had rejected the governor’s proposals to cut income tax rates and raise the sales tax by almost a penny, but kept the expansion to digital services. Those tax provisions in the budget that lawmakers adopted on March 9 would have raised an additional $1 billion, but Youngkin said he would refuse to sign the budget , potentially leaving the state without money to operate on July 1 for the first time in Virginia history.

The agreement also does not include a requirement by the Democratic-controlled assembly that Virginia rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate compact that seeks to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that scientists say contribute to global warming and climate change. Youngkin pushed the State Air Pollution Control Board to withdraw the state from the compact because of concerns about the costs of surcharges on carbon pollution that consumers would pay in their electric bills.

Torian said the proposed budget deal does not include electronic skill games.

The VA Merchants and Amusement Coalition said hundreds of participating convenience stores will stop selling Virginia Lottery tickets until Youngkin and lawmakers "come to an agreement on a path forward for skill games.”

The compromise reached on Thursday would still have to pass review by members of the House and Senate, with Democrats holding a slim majority in each chamber.

Copyright 2024 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos You Should See - May 2024

Join the Conversation

Tags: Virginia , Associated Press , politics , education , health , business

Related Articles

Best states.

America 2024

Best States Rankings

• # 2 New Hampshire
• # 3 Nebraska
• # 4 Minnesota

Health News Bulletin

Stay informed on the latest news on health and COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report.

Sign in to manage your newsletters »

Sign up to receive the latest updates from U.S News & World Report and our trusted partners and sponsors. By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy .

You May Also Like

The 10 best states in america.

Elliott Davis Jr. May 7, 2024

Why Utah Is the Best State

Elliott Davis Jr. and Julia Haines May 7, 2024

Why Florida Is No. 1 in Education

Tim Smart May 7, 2024

Pro-Palestinian Protests Dwindle on Campuses as US College Graduations Are Marked by Defiant Acts

Associated Press May 12, 2024

'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' Reigns at the Box Office With $56.5 Million Opening

Rescuers Free 2 Horses Stuck in the Mud in Connecticut

Local Governments Struggle to Distribute Their Share of Billions From Opioid Settlements

Despite Indiana's Strong Record of Second-In-Command Women, They've Never Held Its Highest Office

Roger Corman, Hollywood Mentor and 'King of the Bs,' Dies at 98

Associated Press May 11, 2024

Small Pro-Palestinian Protests Held Saturday as College Commencements Are Held

Governor Youngkin wants to invest $1.2 billion more into Va. schools; Lawmakers weigh in

L ynchburg, Franklin and Bedford counties have all seen increases in state funding over the past several years. In fact, spending on education overall in the state is up. But with the biennial budget in limbo, lawmakers are still grappling with how to make it all work.

Governor Glenn Youngkin wants to invest more than $21 billion in education. He pegs the amount as a $1.2B increase over the previous two-year budget.

According to Virginia’s House Appropriations Committee, when it comes to how much the state allocated to Lynchburg for education since 2021, it went from $59.5M to $74.1M. During that same period in Bedford County, it grew from $63.4M to $80.02M. And in Franklin County, it was$44.5M and jumped to $52.7M.

But when it comes to an overall spending plan on education in Virginia, lawmakers Del. Sam Rasoul (D) and State Sen. Mark Peake (R) have their differences.

“We need to be focusing on the critical pieces; teacher pay, mental health, Investing in new programs to reduce gun and gang violence in our schools,” Rasoul said.

“I like school resource officers. I like teachers being funded instead of administrators. And I want to look at all of those things,” said Peake.

Both lawmakers believe any new state budget will include raises for teachers, agreeing on 3% raises over the next two years.

“Which would be 12% over the last four which would put us above the national average,” Peake said.

“What we wanna make sure that we have are teacher raises. We need to be paying at least the national average,” Rasoul agreed.

Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission Report for 2024 looked at teacher pay nationwide. Virginia ranks 21st in K-12 teacher salaries. The trend over the past five years shows pay rose from nearly $52K to more than $61K. That same report shows the amount of funding in the state per pupil lands Virginia at 36th. It went from $5,103 to $6,264.

When the Virginia House Appropriations Committee staff looked at the total amount spent on education from 2018 through the end of this fiscal year, spending jumped nearly 70%.

“Look, the reality is, we have a lot more work to do to even get to the nation average, especially being one of the wealthiest states in the nation,” Rasoul remarked.

“The goal is, is that everything will be worked out by May 13th, and on May 15th we will be able to vote for the budget and localities will know how much money they’ve got," Peake said. "Schools will know how much money they’ve got. And we’ll be ready to roll on July first."

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

Va. Gov. Youngkin faces second suit over teacher tip line

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is facing a second lawsuit over his administration’s repeated refusals to release records related to an email tip line he set up for parents to report school employees who teach “divisive” subjects.

Nonprofit ethics watchdog group American Oversight and the law firm Ballard Spahr filed the suit Monday in Arlington County Circuit Court. The suit seeks documents that show how Youngkin (R) and his staff used the tip line, including how they responded to tips submitted.

“What is the tip line’s true purpose and how has the Administration acted on these ‘tips’?” Heather Sawyer, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement. “What is it about this program that they don’t want the public to see?”

Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter on Wednesday referred a request for comment to the state attorney general’s office. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jason S. Miyares said the office does not comment on pending litigation.

Media outlets file suit over Va. Gov. Youngkin’s teacher tip line

The new lawsuit follows a suit filed in April by The Washington Post and a dozen other media outlets in Richmond Circuit Court. That suit, which is ongoing and whose other plaintiffs include the Associated Press, Tribune Publishing and NPR, seeks copies of submissions sent to the governor’s tip line.

The governor had previously denied media outlets’ formal requests for copies of the tip line submissions under the Freedom of Information Act. Spokespeople for the Youngkin administration have maintained the submissions cannot be published because they constitute the governor’s “working papers and correspondence.”

Youngkin, who won the governorship in 2021 partly by promising to root out “critical race theory” and other “inherently divisive” subjects from public education, created the tip line in January, shortly after taking office. He announced that parents should report teachers who discuss “divisive” concepts in the classroom by emailing [email protected] .

“We’re asking for folks to send us reports and observations,” Youngkin said in a radio interview around the same time. “Help us be aware of … their child being denied their rights that parents have in Virginia, and we’re going to make sure we catalogue it all. … And that gives us further, further ability to make sure we’re rooting it out.”

Sawyer, the American Oversight director, previously filed several public records requests asking for copies of emails sent to [email protected], as well as emails from Youngkin’s staff responding to the tip line or discussing procedures for how to handle tip line submissions.

All of these requests have been denied, according to Sawyer.

More on local education

The latest: In Loudoun County, a conservative candidate and a left-leaning candidate were leading in the race for two seats on the school board. Meanwhile, a majority of incumbent school board members in Maryland’s metro area were leading in their reelection bids.

K-12 classrooms: The Montgomery County school system is revisiting safety training after a report of a student with a gun led to a campus lockdown. New safety protocols also are in the works in D.C. after a bus driver crashed a bus and was charged with a DUI. A settlement in a public records lawsuit reveals some of the emails submitted to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s education tip line .

On campus: The University of Maryland has pledged to expand aid for in-state students who have significant financial need. What the twists, turns and drops of roller coasters are teaching Johns Hopkins University students about engineering.

Bias of Washington Examiner

• Balanced News
• Story of the Week
• News Curation Principles
• Newsletters
• Balanced Search

Youngkin and Virginia lawmakers finally reach budget compromise that includes teacher raises without a tax hike

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) compromised with Virginia budget negotiators on a two-year state spending plan that would include 3% raises for state employees and teachers while not raising taxes. Virginia House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian said Thursday the General Assembly’s budget leaders have reached a deal with Youngkin they hope lawmakers approve during a special session on Monday. Youngkin “looks forward to finishing the work to deliver on our collective priorities for all Virginians next week,” according to his press secretary, Christian Martinez. Details of the plan will not be...

Washington Examiner

Related Coverage

AllSides Picks

May 8th, 2024

May 10th, 2024

AllSides Staff

May 9th, 2024

More News about General News from the Left , Center and Right

From the left, from the center, from the right.

Why there's a special education and STEM teacher shortage and what can be done

Experts say obstacles include recruitment, funding and institutional support.

Jahsha Tabron, the 2022 Delaware teacher of the year, taught special education for more than two decades and cherished what she called the "winning moments" of growth in her students.

"[Where] you have a nonverbal student who is now able to speak in simple sentences … that's why you stay," she recently told ABC News.

But Tabron, now Brandywine High School's dean of students in Wilmington, Delaware, said her field can be a tough sell for future candidates.

"When we're talking about why we don't have a lot of people joining the profession, we're looking at the immense workload that comes along with being a special education teacher," she said.

MORE: Most of the US is dealing with a teaching shortage, but the data isn't so simple

Tabron's concern about a staffing shortage is widely shared. A nationwide survey conducted by ABC News this school year found that much of the country doesn't have enough educators -- and that in many cases, districts suffer from a lack of subject matter experts, too.

Two parts of the subject matter pool are particularly strained, according to local education officials: special education and science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

Teachers and experts who spoke with ABC News cited the need for more money for students with disabilities and those who educate them; inadequate diversity in STEM; and underwhelming pipeline and recruiting efforts, particularly in more rural districts and for teachers of color, as major obstacles.

Special education has always been one of the most underfunded yet vital teaching positions in public schools, the experts said -- pointing to a perpetual desire for more financial support, either at the local or federal level, to help instructors doing such specialized work.

The experts said that STEM teachers are overwhelmingly white -- according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 79% are non-Hispanic or white -- even in public schools that are majority non-white, so they do not adequately reflect the students they teach, which creates an added pressure on bringing in more candidates. There's also a focus on increasing diversity in special education instruction.

By the numbers

For a recent report on teacher staffing across the country, ABC News reached out by phone and email to the overarching education departments in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

At least 40 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- 42 out of 53 surveyed -- reported ongoing teaching shortages.

According to an updated analysis, conducted this spring, the most acute shortages are in special education and STEM teachers.

Those findings are reinforced by research from NCES' School Pulse Panel, which started collecting information during the summer of 2021 to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students and educators.

The monthly NCES survey found 78% of K-12 public school principals reported that it was somewhat or very "difficult" to fill a position with a fully certified teacher for special education at the beginning of the current school year. About three-fourths of public schools also reported it was somewhat or very difficult to staff physical science (78%) and mathematics (75%) teachers.

ABC News' reporting found that 31 state education associations, agencies and departments identified special education challenges as one of their greatest needs during the 2022-2023 school year.

MORE: How schools are trying to address the national teacher shortage

What's more, over the course of the school year, almost a third of the country -- or 17 state education agencies -- also told ABC News one of their greatest challenges has been filling teaching positions in STEM.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a speech last year that collaboration is the key to raising the bar for education across America. He also spoke of teacher shortages in bilingual education, special education and STEM -- saying they impact low-income and students of color the most.

'We have a real problem'

The federal government's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) recognizes that many states are facing staffing challenges and is committed to trying to fix the system as a whole, according to OSEP Director Valerie Williams.

"There's data to support that we have a real problem," Williams told ABC News. "Going forward, we're going to aim to focus not just on increasing the numbers but also on diversification of the profession and finding ways for how we can get people from minority backgrounds interested in becoming teachers and get them into the pipeline."

President Joe Biden's 2024 budget proposal -- which has been criticized by conservatives for, they say, reducing economic growth by bloating the government -- is touted by supporters as addressing the gap in special education teachers, "investing $304 million to train and retain [them], specialized instructional support personnel, and paraprofessionals," according to a Department of Education spokesperson.

A recent House Republican proposal to reduce federal government spending has been criticized, too, though conservatives have pushed back on claims it would cut school funding -- calling that made up.

Tabron, in Delaware, said special education is one of the most challenging positions in a school as it not only has general instruction responsibilities but also juggles needs and disciplines that most teachers don't face.

"It's not regular teaching," she said. "You have special ed teachers who are doing the regular part of teaching, which is the planning instruction, the differentiation, the accommodations and modifications. But in addition to just that part of your job as a special education teacher, you are also responsible for creating individualized education plans (IEP) for all of your students."

She described special education teachers as akin to scientists, because they're required to know how their students' brains work.

During the onset of COVID-19, many teachers' workloads were exacerbated by school closures and remote teaching, Tabron said. Now, she said, those who have stayed are working with the same amount of pre-pandemic resources -- but their role has expanded to account for a recent increase in students who see the value of IEPs and special services.

"There was a need for special education teachers before the pandemic," Tabron said. "The need just increased afterwards."

'Our country really needs to step it up'

Connecticut science teacher Carolyn Kielma is raising awareness around the challenges in STEM staffing, too. The self-described "STEMinist" said all it takes is for people to have a drive and passion for teaching.

"Our country really needs to step it up in those careers if we're going to have productive citizens in the future," the 2023 National Teacher of the Year finalist said. "All students are gifted and all students have special needs. It's our job to figure out what those gifts are and what those needs are and marry them into the best lesson plan."

Experts, though, have told ABC News the STEM shortage is a "crisis." They said not only is the field missing teachers but there's also a dearth of aspiring applicants.

"We don't have enough people [in general] going into STEM careers, and so the downstream effect of that is we don't have enough STEM teachers," said Arthur Mitchell, executive director of the STEM Equity Alliance.

Education advocates told ABC News that college graduates with education degrees have been declining for years. The University of California at Los Angeles' Cooperative Institutional Research Program found only 4.3% of U.S. college freshmen intended to major in education in 2018, compared to 11% in 2000.

Mitchell said the absence of young teachers is hurting STEM teaching categories. However, he believes there's a "neglect" problem in higher education and that institutions have to fully commit to recruitment and outreach.

"We're looking for those who have an interest in STEM education and nurturing that," said Mitchell, whose STEM Equity Alliance serves as a pipeline for teacher education. "And, by and large, there have been no concerted efforts -- national concerted efforts -- and very few statewide or local efforts to really put more STEM teachers in classrooms."

Another problem? Rural areas are underserved

Upon graduation many teachers are hesitant to explore rural parts of the U.S., according to education officials around the country.

Colorado's state education talent unit said that geographical barriers are straining their most rural, and already struggling, districts.

"Math and special education shortages can affect rural areas more acutely," Colorado's Associate Commissioner of Educator Talent Colleen O'Neil told ABC News in a statement. "[Rural parts] sometimes have no candidates at all that apply for a position," she added.

Along the Pacific coast, Siskiyou County's Allan Carver said his district also faces these roadblocks because it is in the "sticks" of Northern California.

"There's not a lot of people who want to live way out here where there's no Walmart and those sorts of things," said Carver, the Siskiyou Office of Education superintendent.

Working with a limited pool is something Southeast Arkansas Education Service Cooperative Director Karen Eoff understands as well as Carver.

According to the state's department of education, Arkansas faces its worst staffing shortages in secondary math and secondary science. But from elementary education on up, Eoff said all subjects in the rural parts of her state are impacted.

"Keeping and attracting young people to this area is a problem -- we have the largest teacher shortage in Arkansas," Eoff, who oversees 15 school districts, told ABC News.

More -- and more diverse -- pipeline programs needed

Experts interviewed for this story suggested pipeline programs could be the key to preparing teachers to enter the field in the years to come.

Reach University, a job-embedded teacher apprenticeship program, has been one solution for places like rural Arkansas and California, which are far from their state's largest institutions for training future educators.

In both Southeast Arkansas and in Siskiyou County in California, Reach University said it did an extensive analysis to define current vacancies by grade level and subject, across all open positions. In Siskiyou, they found slightly elevated vacancies in elementary education and math. Special education is "always" a constant need in his district, according to Carver.

"We've got to figure out how to take people who are already happy being in schools and help them become our teachers," Carver said. "The Reach model, with the apprenticeship, was just a home run for us."

Eoff's office has used Reach since the beginning of the current school year to stem its shortages. Now, she said, it has 20 paraprofessional staffers in an apprenticeship.

"Reach has been one of our best tools because of the support, affordability, the 'come alongside and we will help you' approach," Eoff said.

In response to former President Barack Obama's 2011 call to increase the STEM teacher pool by 100,000 in a decade, education nonprofit Beyond100K used "radical collaboration" with more than 300 organizations to exceed that benchmark. The group said it helped prepare 108,000 STEM teachers -- and counting -- with a new target of 150,000 by 2032.

Part of Beyond100K's focus, according to its 2022 trends report, is to add more teachers of color to reflect the students in their classrooms, especially Black, Latino and Native American teachers.

​"The work that we are doing now is very focused on racial equity and on creating belonging for teachers and for students," Amber Hamilton, Beyond100K's chief external officer, said.

Eoff, in Arkansas, stressed how instilling that sense of belonging into students of all ages and backgrounds will hopefully guide more candidates to the field.

"I think that the earlier we encourage kids to believe they can, in STEM programs, the better," she said.

Meanwhile, as responsibilities from the pandemic grow, STEM and special education professionals agree the shortages will persist if more isn't done to help them win.

"I think that would be awesome to ask teachers what they really need," Tabron said. "Imagine someone asking you: What would make you happier here? What can I do to support you? Just you listening to that -- I think would change my performance."

ABC News' Gabe Ferris contributed to this report.

Top Stories

Actor Steve Buscemi punched in the face in New York City

• May 12, 5:40 PM

Woman uses self-checkout to steal $60,000 of items from same Target store over a year

• May 10, 5:03 AM

What led to DNA match, arrest of minister two decades after murders of 2 teens

• May 10, 6:03 AM

Smoke from Canadian wildfires reaches US, Minnesota under air quality alert

• 4 hours ago

Controversy follows Gov. Kristi Noem as she is banned by two more South Dakota tribes

• May 11, 6:02 PM

ABC News Live

24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

Government moves to fund students on university placements for teaching, nursing and social work

Students experiencing "poverty placement" caused by mandatory, unpaid practical placements required for their university degrees will be eligible for a new Commonwealth payment to be unveiled in the upcoming budget.

University students studying teaching must do 16 weeks of unpaid practical experience, nurses 20 weeks and social workers 26 weeks.

Earlier this year, students told ABC News they were forced to choose between food and going to the doctor in order to meet their course requirements and graduate.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said these students would now be eligible for a new Commonwealth Prac Payment of $319.50 a week.

"Teachers give our children the best start in life, they deserve a fair start to their career," Mr Albanese said.

"We're proud to be backing the hard work and aspiration of Australians looking to better themselves by studying at university."

Yesterday, the government announced changes to student loan indexation that  wiped out $3 billion in HECS payments .

The prime minister said the measures would provide cost-of-living relief to students.

"We're funding support for placements so our future nurses, teachers and social workers can gain the experience they need," Mr Albanese said.

"We're making HECS fairer so no-one is held back by student debt. And we're expanding access to university in our regions and suburbs to make sure no Australian is left behind."

The government's move was recommended in a recent wide-ranging review of higher education called the Australian Universities Accord.

The accord panel's expert report said giving students financial support for placements was essential, to ensure they could meet their placement requirements "without falling into poverty".

"This will give people who have signed up to do some of the most important jobs in this country a bit of extra help to get the qualifications they need," Education Minister Jason Clare said.

"Placement poverty is a real thing. I have met students who told me they can afford to go to uni, but they can't afford to do the prac."

The government hasn't revealed how much the program will cost and didn't expect to have an estimate until budget night.

It has calculated 68,000 higher education students and 5,000 VET students would be eligible for the payment.

The amount of $319.50 a week is benchmarked to the single Austudy weekly rate.

It will be means tested and available from July 1, 2025.

Mr Clare said the government had listened to concerns raised by students after record HECS indexation last year and rising cost-of-living pressures.

"Some students say prac means they have to give up their part-time job, and that they don't have the money to pay the bills," Mr Clare said.

"This is practical support for practical training."

The minister for skills and training, Brendan O'Connor, said the new payment would help with a shortage of health workers.

"This prac payment is in addition to the government's investment in Fee-Free TAFE, which is supporting thousands to gain Division 2 nursing qualifications and helping to address skills shortages in aged and health care," Mr O'Connor said.

"This is an additional payment to support nursing TAFE students who have extra costs such as uniforms, travel, temporary accommodation, or childcare, during mandatory clinical placements."

As well as the university accord, the government said the new payment formed part of its response to its gender equality strategy Working for Women.

It also said the payment would help with the supply of social workers as Australia battles with a domestic violence crisis.

• X (formerly Twitter)

Spring 2024 Newsletter

Spring 2024 WRS Newsletter

WRS to Launch New Member Portal

Legislature Approves Future Public Employee Plan Rate Adjustments

Contribution Rate Changes

WRS Legislative Snapshot 2024

Save the Date: WRS RetireFest

Leaving Employment? Consider your Options

Requesting a Refund? Keep This in Mind

Heading back to work after retirement? Here's what you should know

Retire Minute: Public Employee Plan 'Rule of 85' Explained

Retirement Insecurity 2024: Americans’ Views of Retirement

Latest News

New WRS Member Portal

Coming May 20th

Employer Contribution Notice

July 1, 2024, will bring changes to contribution rates for the Warden & Patrol Plan, Judicial Plan, and Law Enforcement Plan.

Winter 2023 Newsletter

Important updates, change announcements, reminders and much more!

Why Pensions Work for Wyoming and Teachers

Pension benefits provide teachers an incentive to continue delivering quality education to K-12 students

Join WRS for National Retirement Security Week!

National Retirement Security Week (NRSW) serves as a dedicated period to raise awareness about the importance of saving for retirement.

Important Notice: Beware of Misleading Emails

The Wyoming Retirement System (WRS) is aware of a deceptive email being circulated to members, falsely inviting them to a supposed meeting for retirement benefit information.

2023 Annual Summary Report

2023 Annual Summary Report, Actuarial Data, Statistics, Factoids, Membership,

Spring 2023 Newsletter

Articles from our Director, Deferred Compensation, and more

WRS is Moving!

The Wyoming Retirement System to Move Office Location in May

457 Deferred Comp

Current time by city

For example, New York

Current time by country

For example, Japan

Time difference

For example, London

For example, Dubai

Coordinates

For example, Hong Kong

For example, Delhi

For example, Sydney

Geographic coordinates of Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Russia

City coordinates

Coordinates of Elektrostal in decimal degrees

Coordinates of elektrostal in degrees and decimal minutes, utm coordinates of elektrostal, geographic coordinate systems.

WGS 84 coordinate reference system is the latest revision of the World Geodetic System, which is used in mapping and navigation, including GPS satellite navigation system (the Global Positioning System).

Geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) define a position on the Earth’s surface. Coordinates are angular units. The canonical form of latitude and longitude representation uses degrees (°), minutes (′), and seconds (″). GPS systems widely use coordinates in degrees and decimal minutes, or in decimal degrees.

Latitude varies from −90° to 90°. The latitude of the Equator is 0°; the latitude of the South Pole is −90°; the latitude of the North Pole is 90°. Positive latitude values correspond to the geographic locations north of the Equator (abbrev. N). Negative latitude values correspond to the geographic locations south of the Equator (abbrev. S).

Longitude is counted from the prime meridian ( IERS Reference Meridian for WGS 84) and varies from −180° to 180°. Positive longitude values correspond to the geographic locations east of the prime meridian (abbrev. E). Negative longitude values correspond to the geographic locations west of the prime meridian (abbrev. W).

UTM or Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system divides the Earth’s surface into 60 longitudinal zones. The coordinates of a location within each zone are defined as a planar coordinate pair related to the intersection of the equator and the zone’s central meridian, and measured in meters.

Elevation above sea level is a measure of a geographic location’s height. We are using the global digital elevation model GTOPO30 .

Elektrostal , Moscow Oblast, Russia