DLCC: Virginia Republicans Commit to Gutting Public Schools and Demonizing Teachers

From the DLCC:

Virginia Republicans Commit to Gutting Public Schools and Demonizing Teachers

Republican candidates for the legislature have committed to making education worse in Virginia

WASHINGTON — Republican candidates running in Virginia are committed to defunding public schools, cutting jobs, opposing vital safety measures, and continuing to demonize hardworking teachers every day. Republicans are putting their extremist agenda above the education of Virginia students. They have been clear that if they win the majority, they will politicize education by refusing to teach civil rights history and gut public school budgets across the board.

“The Virginia Republican Party poses an existential threat to education in the commonwealth,” said DLCC President Jessica Post. “Instead of investing in our student’s future, they want to play politics and distract from the fact that they would gut public schools. The choice is simple this November — Democrats will support education for all families across Virginia, and Republicans will politicize the classroom by refusing to teach civil rights history, cut budgets, and create fewer opportunities for everyone.”

Here is a round-up of just a sample of the Republican legislative candidates in Virginia and their positions on education in the commonwealth:

• Nick Clemente (HD-10): Clemente pledged to eliminate the income tax in Virginia, which would cost the public education system billions in funding and defund 43,000 educator positions.
• Christopher Stone (HD-13): Stone also would take money away from schools by eliminating the income tax in Virginia.
• Tanya Gould (HD-21): Gould supports policies to redirect public funding toward private schools and opposed Virginia’s mask requirements in schools, making it clear that she doesn’t care about the educational wellbeing or the health of Virginia children.
• Steve Pleickhardt (HD-50): Pleickhardt also pledged to eliminate the income tax in Virginia, which would defund public schools.
• Tim Cox (HD-51): Cox supports policies that would redirect public funding to private schools and offer financial incentives for parents who chose to homeschool, undermining education in the commonwealth.
• Mike Cherry (HD-66): Cherry claimed public schools were “indoctrination centers” that taught “socialism” and claimed it was important to get “kids out of public schools.” He then went on to say that schools did not teach cursive handwriting because they did not want children to be able to read the constitution. It is no surprise that he pledged to sponsor legislation to take money away from public schools by eliminating the state income tax and the first bill he plans to sponsor would take money away from public schools.
• Mark Earley Jr. (HD-68): Earley called for “parental choice,” implying support for using public funds for private private schools, and claimed school shutdowns during the pandemic were “unnecessary to begin with,” even though these shutdowns saved lives.
• Christopher Holmes (HD-72): Holmes claimed that if his opponent was an “actual teacher,” he should be teaching history instead of “indoctrinating our kids” and implied that Democrats were teaching that “America is evil.”
• Otto Wachsmann (HD-75): Wachsmann falsely claimed that Democrats eliminated advanced math courses and were pushing “state-funded liberal indoctrination.”
• Mike Dillender (HD-76): Dillender would also undermine public schools by eliminating the income tax in Virginia, gutting their funding.
• Tim Anderson (HD-83): Anderson has drafted legislation to send taxpayer money to private schools and pledged to eliminate the income tax in Virginia, which would gut public school budgets.