Democrats gather for Spanberger’s education plans
The Democratic ticket gathered in Portsmouth on Friday as the gubernatorial nominee announced her education plans.
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Democrats gather for Spanberger’s education plans
The Democratic ticket gathered in Portsmouth on Friday as the gubernatorial nominee announced her education plans.
“Virginia will soon be casting their ballots to decide the direction that we take as a commonwealth,” Spanberger said to a crowd in the library at I.C. Norcom High School. “Whether we have leaders who are planning for Virginia's future successes, or leaders with no real plan or intention to put Virginia's students first.”
Spanberger announced her plan to address the following topics, but she did not go into detail about how she would do so:
Recruiting, retaining, and providing ongoing support to high-quality teachers to address Virginia’s teacher shortage.
Upholding academic excellence and rigor in Virginia’s public schools.
Repairing and modernizing crumbling schools.
Preparing students with advanced academic programs and career-ready skills by promoting innovation within Virginia’s public schools.
Rejecting efforts to divert funding from public education to pay for voucher programs.
Increasing support for students with disabilities, and their parents.
Giving kids the opportunity to focus on learning at school by supporting wraparound services — including making it easier for rural school divisions to implement telehealth programs for mental health services.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin came into office in January of 2022 with big plans for overhauling the education system in Virginia. He, however, hit many roadblocks with the legislation he pushed over the years in the General Assembly and was unable to fully implement his plans.
Spanberger blamed Youngkin’s approach to education as the reason he has been unable to fully accomplish his goals.
“I think that if I were to look backwards at some of the challenges that the current administration has [faced], it's that there was an antagonistic approach towards education,” Spanberger said Friday.
“I think my general approach in working with the General Assembly is to recognize that many members of the General Assembly [have] been working for years to try and strengthen Virginia's public schools, to focus on the needs of Virginia students,” Spanberger continued.
Spanberger said she wants to “work with them in trying to put policies in place and to move forward on policies, whether they be policies that go through the legislature or policies and procedures that are done through the State Department of Education.”
State Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, attended and spoke at the event taking place in her alma mater.
“With Abigail Spanberger as governor, we will have a governor who puts Virginia’s families and students first,” Lucas said. “If we want stronger schools, she is what the community needs and she is what our commonwealth needs.”
While Spanberger’s Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has not released any education plans, she is a strong advocate for school choice in Virginia, a state that offers very few options.
She was a strong advocate for Youngkin’s opportunity scholarship plan during the 2025 legislative session, which would provide funding for low-income families to use for private school options. However, the legislation failed to advance out of the General Assembly.
When it comes to education and most everything else, I would not trust anything a democrat running for governor has to say. Talk is cheap. Better to look at their track record. Spanberger votes backed Biden and Nancy Pelosi all the way. We don't need such cynical complicity to follow our excellent Gov. Youngkin.