Youngkin takes office with immediate focus on education, thrilling some and terrifying others

Glenn Youngkin launched his tenure as Virginia’s 74th governor this weekend with three executive orders devoted to education — a level of focus on schools that is unprecedented in recent memory and which spells the all-but-certain continuation of polarizing cultural and curricular battles in the divided state.

Youngkin’s first order forbids the teaching of “inherently divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory,” an academic framework that examines how policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism in the United States.

Another order promises the investigation of Loudoun County Public Schools, a wealthy Northern Virginia district that has been embroiled in high-profile controversy for more than a year over allegations related to critical race theory and transgender rights, as well as administrators’ bungled handling of two sexual assaults.

The Republican governor’s third order asserts that parents must be allowed to decide whether their child wears a mask in school, regardless of what federal or district-level officials say.

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