Virginia school awards scandal deepens, draws outrage from governor, AG: 'This should be illegal'
Virginia AG broadened his investigation of delayed merit awards to 3 counties, 16 schools
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Virginia schools continue to make headlines after 16 schools across three counties have reportedly withheld notifying students who received National Merit Awards. Following Attorney General Jason Miyares' move to launch a probe into the schools, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has taken another step to combat the "relentless pursuit of equity."
Gov. Youngkin has proposed a bill that would "make it mandatory that schools notify parents and students of awards, recognitions and scholarship opportunities as soon as they know this is not going to happen again."
"There clearly is a real suggestion that their civil rights have been violated. And we need to understand what's at the heart of this," Youngkin said on "American Reports" Wednesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}16 schools have reportedly delayed notifying students who received National Merit Awards, despite claims it was originally a clerical error at one of the schools in Fairfax County. The controversy has expanded to Loudon County and Prince Williams County.
VIRGINIA AG EXPANDS PROBE AFTER MORE THAN A DOZEN SCHOOLS WITHHELD MERIT AWARDS DURING ‘EQUITY’ PUSH
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announces legislation which would mandate schools notify students immediately who receiving merit awards. (Fox News)
National merit awards are among the most prestigious honors a high school student can receive, with just 50,000 students from the top 1.5 million PSAT scores receiving them.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There's clearly has been an effort to bring down the standards for our students in Virginia to stop celebrating excellence. And this is counter to everything we believe," Youngkin said. "This nation was built on the idea of building a better future, of striving and achieving. And here we have what appears to be three of three large school districts in Virginia who have been systematically withholding information about excellence. This is so counter to everything that we believe."
Gov. Youngkin, who has been an outspoken champion of parental rights in education and keeping woke policies out of schools, blasted the "trifecta" of problems plaguing the education system in his state.
"We have schools that lowered expectations. Virginia used to have the highest standards for treatment. And now we have had the lowest. We're putting them back. But sadly, Virginia students met those expectations," he said. "Second of all, they pushed parents out of their students' lives. And third, there has been a consistent cover-up in the relentless pursuit of equity."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}RICHMOND, VA - JANUARY 19: The newly sworn-in Attorney General of Virginia, Jason Miyares works from his office January 19, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia. ((Photo by Julia Rendleman for The Washington Post via Getty Images))
Virginia Attorney General Miyares said he is expanding his probe, and is looking to see if school systems violated the Virginia Human Rights Act. Miyares told Fox News that Fairfax County paid a so-called equity consultant $450,000 for less than nine months of work.
Gov. Youngkin criticized the "absolutely atrocious" effort from Virginia school districts to "bring down the standards" of excellence for students in the name of equity, calling for more transparency within schools over expenditures like Fairfax's equity consultant.
"There should be full transparency in these kinds of expenditures, particularly when they're teaching and training a methodology and a belief system that is so counter to excellence, so counter to making sure that students are allowed to achieve and do their best," he said. "Again, it is such an anathema to everything we believe."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Excellence in education should be celebrated, not withheld from students."
Fox News' Danielle Wallace and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.