Governor Youngkin Has No Right to Override Legislature and Remove Grant Opportunity to Expand Teacher Diversity 

Richmond, Virginia—Republicans and Democrats alike came together to create a grant opportunity for teachers of color that would lower the financial burdens teachers with provisional licenses face when getting their full teaching licenses. But without any public notice or justification, Governor Glenn Youngkin has taken the application off of the VDOE’s website and stopped distributing the funds. Governor Youngkin doesn’t get to unilaterally decide which parts of the state budget he wants to comply with and which parts he doesn’t, and we are calling on him to restore this grant opportunity for teachers immediately.

“Every child deserves to have at least one teacher who looks like them, and most families in our community can agree that a strong teaching force with a diversity of values and perspectives benefits everyone,” LaTwyla Mathias, Executive Director of Progress Virginia, said. “Just because Governor Youngkin doesn’t value diversity doesn’t give him the right to stand in the way of lawmakers who want to make it easier for teachers of color to stay in the classroom. It is critical that we break down the barriers that exist to becoming a teacher, especially as many of our schools struggle to find committed, qualified teachers. Governor Youngkin needs to do the right thing and restore this grant opportunity immediately.”

• A majority of Virginia’s students in K-12 schools are people of color, but 82% of teachers are white.
• These grants were written into the budget and passed by members of both the House of Delegates and State Senate and signed by Governor Youngkin. If the Governor wanted to veto it, he had the opportunity to do so.  had the opportunity to veto