Immediately after being sworn in on Saturday, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed a spate of executive orders on issues ranging from the teaching of critical race theory to mask mandates in schools.
Youngkin appeared on Fox News Sunday the following day to explain why he felt that addressing racialized curricula should be a day-one priority for his administration.
“There’s not a course called critical race theory,” Youngkin said during an appearance “All of the principles of critical race theory, the fundamental building blocks of actually accusing one group of being oppressors and another of being oppressed, of actually burdening children today for sins of the past, for teaching our children to judge one another based on the color of their skin, yes, that does exist in Virginia schools today, and that’s why I signed the executive order yesterday to make sure that we get it out of our schools.”
A press release from Youngkin’s office said the order “delivers on his Day One promise to restore excellence in education by ending the use of divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory, in public education.”
”We absolutely have to recognize what the left liberals do here is try to obfuscate this issue by saying there’s no course called critical race theory,” he said on Sunday. “Well, of course there’s not in elementary school. But, in fact, there are absolutely the tenets of CRT present in the schools and that’s what our executive order went at yesterday.”
Youngkin signed eleven executive orders after being sworn-in on Saturday, including an order lifting a mask mandate in public schools and another promising to investigate a sexual assault allegation at a Loudoun County high school.
“Executive Order Number Two delivers on his Day One promise to empower Virginia parents in their children’s education and upbringing by allowing parents to make decisions on whether their child wears a mask in school,” the release continued.
The repeal of the mask mandate could face legal challenges by those who argue it contradicts a law passed by the state’s General Assembly requiring schools to take measures recommended by the CDC to prevent the spread of Covid-19, ABC 8News reported.
Youngkin, who is Virginia’s first Republican governor since 2014, defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in November by campaigning against critical race theory and in support of parents’ rights to have a say in their children’s education.