“Terry McAuliffe wants to put government between parents and their children,” Republican Glenn Youngkin said at a campaign rally Sunday, warning of his Democrat opponent in Virginia’s race for governor ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Youngkin issued the warning as Virginia school boards, such as that in Loudoun County, seek to silence parents who object to the imposition of liberal ideologies – such as transgender school bathrooms and the teaching of Critical Race Theory – upon their children.
Condemning Democrats’ push to replace parents with government, Youngkin praised one mother’s t-shirt:
“Parents matter. Terry McAuliffe wants to put government between parents and their children. We’ve got give choice back to parents.
“I saw this great t-shirt the other day. A woman came up, took a picture in a t-shirt that said, ‘I do not co-parent with government’ – that’s a great shirt.”
Indeed, a t-shirt sold on Amazon.com features just such a comment: “I Do Not Co-Parent with the Government or School Board.”
The recent decline in Virginia students’ test scores under Democrat leadership has been “so bad, it brings tears to your eyes,” Youngkin said, noting that Democrats have chosen to lower standards, rather than improve education:
“Our schools are letting our kids down. When Terry McAuliffe was governor, 88 schools failed to reach their accreditation. And, instead of hard work and fixing the schools, all they did was lower the standard so not one would fail.
“Today, it comes to the standards required to progress in reading and math. George W. Bush called it the soft bigotry of low expectations. We do not want to be a commonwealth of low expectations; we want to be a commonwealth of high expectations. We want our kids to soar, not flounder.
“You know, the test results have been so bad, so bad, it brings tears to your eyes.”
Vowing to increase funding for schools and teacher salaries, Youngkin promised to “launch the most aggressive charter school program in the history of Virginia”:
“We’re going to launch the most aggressive charter school program in the history of Virginia, to have choice within our public schools for our parents.
“Parents matter. Terry McAuliffe wants to put government between parents and their children. We’ve got give choice back to parents.
“I saw this great t-shirt the other day. A woman came up, took a picture in a t-shirt that said, ‘I do not co-parent with government’ – that’s a great shirt.
“We only have 8 charter schools in the entire Commonwealth of Virginia. Eight – Maryland has 140; North Carolina has 190. We have 8; we’re going to launch 20 on Day One. Twenty. In part of our public school system, it’s just a down payment to get us going.
“We’re going to close that gap so fast it’ll make your head spin. Charter schools, to prepare our kids either to go to college or for a career. We’re going to partner with businesses, so we have a curriculum that prepares folks to get going, if that’s the way they want to go. We’ve got to give avenues for all of our kids.”
“Curriculum, though: that’s where it starts,” Youngkin said, describing his plan to improve education by prioritizing math and teaching students the entire history of America, including both its good and the bad elements:
“And, so, let me just be clear: we will accelerate math in our schools. We will award advanced diplomas. We’ll teach history: all history, the good and the bad. The good and the bad.
“America’s the greatest county in the world. We’re going to talk about it in schools. We’re also going to teach the chapters that are dark and abhorrent, because, if we don’t know where we come from, we can’t know where we’re going.”