Political outsider, successful business leader, and Republican nominee for governor Glenn Youngkin announced today the launch of “Educators for Youngkin,” a coalition of teachers, parents, educators, and community members across Virginia that are committed to restoring excellence in education. Glenn Youngkin and the Educators for Youngkin Coalition will work to fix standards and underperformance in all Virginia schools.

Educators for Youngkin will be led by Chairwoman Suparna Dutta, a mother of two children in the Fairfax County Public School system. After training as a Civil Engineer in India, she arrived in the United States for graduate studies and received a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As one of the parent leaders of Coalition for TJ, she has witnessed firsthand the Northam Administration’s discouragement of academic excellence at the nation’s top-ranked public high school, the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ).

“I am proud to lead the Educators for Youngkin Coalition in this critical fight to protect our children’s education and restore academic excellence. I know Glenn Youngkin is the right leader to increase academic opportunity for our children, provide more school options for our parents and teachers, increase transparency in our school system, and raise Virginia’s academic standards. I believe that the most urgent issues facing education are public school officials’ discouragement of transparency, parental engagement, and diversity of viewpoint, and the misguided adoption of Critical Race Theory, which denigrates and segregates children based on race,” said Dutta.

“As governor, I will work to fix underperformance in our schools and reestablish academic excellence across the Commonwealth. Under Terry McAuliffe, Virginia lowered accreditation standards and math proficiency standards, damaging Virginia’s schools and students. Together, we will strengthen Virginia’s academic standards and improve opportunities for all students by establishing transparent metrics and accountability to restore excellence to public schools,” said Youngkin. “We must establish higher standards and improved curricula, increase investment in teachers and facilities, and empower parents to choose the best education path for their child. This will stop the downward spiral of K-12 public education in Virginia, and get the political agendas out of the classroom so that students are taught how to think instead of what to think. I am honored to have Educators for Youngkin join me in this effort and provide valuable insight on how to provide a better future for Virginia’s children.”

In 2017, Governor Terry McAuliffe’s State Board of Education (SBOE) changed the criteria by which schools are measured for accreditation and lowered the math proficiency standards for Virginia’s students. Virginia’s NAEP scores dropped after McAuliffe’s standards were implemented. SOL scores, especially for Black and Latino students, have also dropped.

To join the Educators for Youngkin Coalition, sign up here.