Exclusive — Glenn Youngkin: Education Reset Crucial in VA, Warns McAuliffe Wants ‘Government Between Parents and Their Children’

Democrat Terry McAuliffe wants “government between parents and their children,” Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin warned during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday, identifying education as one of the most critical issues in the Old Dominion days before the election.

A Washington Post poll released on Friday identified education as the number one issue for Virginia voters heading into Tuesday’s governor’s race, and Youngkin said the chaos in Loudoun County, Virginia, has essentially elevated the concerns to the national level.

“Everybody has seen Loudoun County, Virginia, as ground zero for the fundamental demand from parents to have a role in their children’s education,” he explained.

While he said Virginia law states that parents have a fundamental right to make decisions on their children’s education, school boards are shutting parents out. While parents have been standing up for their fundamental right, Democrats have objected.

“Terry McAuliffe says you don’t have a right. He wants government between parents and their children — politicians and bureaucrats dictating what our kids are doing,” he said, briefly referencing the “explosive” school official coverup of an alleged rape and assault in Loudoun County and noting the FBI should be investigating that instead of targeting concerned parents.

Youngkin said the issue is outside his state as well, as he has received feedback from concerned parents across the nation who say the same issues are surfacing in their local communities. They feel as though they do not have a voice because there is no election, and he said they are pleading Virginians to “make a statement for us.”

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Ultimately, the Republican gubernatorial hopeful said McAuliffe is a “big government control politician who only knows how to dictate and tell people what to do.”

“And I’m going to work on behalf of parents and children and even teachers,” he said, adding that this is “our moment to make a fundamental statement and change the direction of education in Virginia.”

“After eight years of Democrat governors … we’ve watched the education system in Virginia be watered down, standards reduced to the point where 62 percent of Virginia’s kids aren’t able to pass an 8th grade math equivalency test. 62 percent! And we watched the parents be pushed out of the classroom. We watch teachers who want to teach their children how to think being told no, teach them what to think,” he said. “The entire system now is broken.”

Youngkin promised that his administration would charge forward with a charter school initiative to give parents choice and ultimately hand back control to parents and teachers.

On Tuesday, he added, Virginians “get to make a statement” for the nation “about what our future can look like.”