Luncheon Address with Governor Glenn Youngkin [ELPC 2024]

for everything they've done to put today's conference together so thank you all um I also want to disclaim any uh responsibility or or credit for What's happen happening today I'm merely just showing up so but I'm I'm honored to be involved in this uh and I'm honored to introduce our luncheon speaker now just a month ago Governor yunan signed an executive order codifying election security provisions put into place during his administration including several ballot security measures including notably paper ballots now I want to begin my introduction by pointing out my preference for using written notes for this introduction I could have used a laptop or an iPad or an iPhone or uh you know some other electronic device to record my notes but I find the written notes much more reliable they're easy to find they're easy to trace uh they're impossible to hack uh so uh just better all around uh but don't read anything into that the federal Society of course is famous for not taking position so I'm not taking a position um and anyhow we're here to talk about election or education today so it is an honor to welcome uh Virginia Governor Glenn yunan I'll take a moment to introduce him he was born in Richmond and raised in Virginia Beach so he truly is a homegrown Virginia uh he's very successful in business and he has translated that success in business to success in the in public office now throughout his tenure as governor for our purposes here today he's LED conversations about parental rights with students and teachers and parents he has ushered in historic investment in education launched a lab school initiative to inject choice and Innovation into the public school system passed the Virginia literacy act to improve literacy among Elementary School students and he's renewed Virginia's focus on Career and Technical education and implemented the all-in Virginia plan to tackle persistent learning loss stemming from the pandemic school closures all of this while raising teacher salaries 12% [Music] s so it's been a very very busy two and a half years for govern governor yunan in office and a great two and a half years for Virginia governor yun's been married for over 29 years to Suzanne a devoted leader in both nonprofit and charitable causes together they are dedicated to their four wonderful children and throughout his storyed career and many achievements both in and out of office his focus and dedication to education and to families has been exemplary so it is with particular enthusiasm that we welcome him here today Governor yunan thank you for being with us thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you all I uh what an honor it is to be here with everyone uh I can't tell you that there is no topic more important to the future of our nation than education and if we can't get education right we are destined to continue to fall behind but I have to take a moment and just reflect on today today is a day of solemn remembrance I just came from Arlington National Cemetery I just came from the honor and privilege of laying a wreath at both the Pentagon group Memorial burial marker and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and I found a weight as I heard planes going overhead and I remembered that day I was struck by the fact that there was a mother and a sister there was a mother and a sister who folks allowed a massive I am I am talking about 911 right now there couldn't be anything more more dis there's nothing more nothing more disrespectful to our nation than what you were doing right now not a thing there's nothing nothing nothing more disrespectful this is this is nothing more disrespectful what's thatal [Music] disrespect more disrespect nothing nothing nothing more [Applause] disruptive nothing [Applause] nothing thank you I'm going to repeat today is a day to think about America today is a day [Applause] to remind ourselves that there were 3,000 men and women who lost their lives on 9/11 today is a day to remind ourselves there's evil in the world and today is finally a day to remember that there are incredibly brave men and women who put their hand up and say send me that stand between evil and peace and those men and women deserve to be honored and respected and on a day like today I hope the whole nation can stop and put down their differences and come together and reflect on the fact that our Founders who inscribed in this nation a belief that there is an Almighty Creator and that he endows in US unalienable rights and those rights are not granted by King or a dictator but literally by a God all Mighty and among those rights are life liberty and the pursuit of [Applause] happiness I have to say that as part of that clear recognition that there are foundational beliefs in this nation that we must preserve that we must defend and that we must see through to the Next Generation education is at the absolute heart of it the ability for us to know where we have come from and know where we are going the ability for us to teach the good and the bad to make sure that we understand that yes there are incredibly trash IC dark periods of our history and that we must never repeat them and yet there are extraordinary examples like today that we remember 911 that is the foundation that we have to protect and constantly be vigilant in building I'm comforted to know that we're coming together to think about that specific topic I want to thank the Federalist Society for your amazing work I want to thank the defense of Freedom Institute for your amazing work and to see you come together and hosting this most important Gathering thinking about education today and tomorrow represents the most important topic I believe at the heart of our nation I also particularly just want to point out one part of the work that is going on and highlights the impact I want to thank Bob and Jim for your leadership in addressing and combating the incre the the federal government's constant desire today from the Biden Harris Administration to encroach on the protections that are offered by Title 9 to women across America thank you thank you thank you [Applause] now at the heart of this discussion is what is education today and where must we take it you see education is not only at the foundation of America's future and Virginia's future it is also receiving the most extraordinary attention from the left to try to use it to their purposes and that is why I believe I am standing here today in front of you because virgins understand that and it wasn't a moment in 2021 where it was Republicans against Democrats it wasn't a moment where it was ideology against ideology it was parents standing up and saying very loudly I have a fundamental right to make decisions in my child's life and I am wholly unsatisfied with what I am seeing happening in our schools full stop that is at the heart of our discussion today what were they seeing in our schools well all of a sudden for the first time in many parents parenting history they had a chance to see it up close and personal see Virginia schools were closed for an extraordinary unnecessary period of time we were 44th in the nation in getting our schools open parents all of a sudden were seeing that this this false promise that equality education could be delivered on a 12in screen not only meant that their children weren't learning but they couldn't believe what they were being taught they were being taught what to think not how to think over a long period of time expectations of excellence in the great Commonwealth of Virginia with a stored Educational Foundation had been watered down to the extent that Virginia went from the top of the list of expectations to the bottom of the list what does that mean that means that previous administrations s systematically reduced the number of questions that you have to get right on a test to be deemed proficient that is not being truthful with parents when they told parents all over the Commonwealth your child is doing fine when in fact they weren't and it all came to light when through a pandemic where children were not in a classroom where education is clearly most effective expectations for them had been watered down that all of a sudden National test scores could be compared to state test scores and the honesty Gap couldn't have been more clear Virginia according to the nape scores had the largest learning loss in the nation in fourth grade reading and math and was right there in e8th grade as well and all of a sudden it became clear something was fundamentally wrong and that was the moment that Virginians stood up and said we want change and you see we shouldn't have to wait for these cataclysmic moments in our children's lives to realize that the systematic reduction of expectations the removal of parents from their children's lives and decision making being replaced with bureaucrats and politicians the belief that everyone getting an a is a good idea the idea that schools who are not delivering for our students would all be accredited the fact that there's been this one siiz fits-all concept that we'll just give the same education to all the children with no Pathways of differentiation is a good thing all of it was a philosophy that has proven to to be false and that's where we all come in because the opportunity to go to work in the Commonwealth of Virginia and change things was not only at the heart of Virginia hiring me but it's been at the heart of the work that we have been doing for the last two and a half years in an unwavering way and I want to stop and I want to thank our secretary of educ ation Amy gadera for joining the team and giving up her life and coming in and I want to thank our deputy secretary Nicholas Kent who every day goes to work to make Virginia's education system better thank you [Applause] both but at the heart of this issue I see five problems problem number one was who's in charge of your children's lives problem number two is trans transparency to make sure that parents can actually see what's happening in their children's lives problem number three are what are our expectations well they should absolutely be excellent problem number four is how do we create multiple Pathways so that parents exercising their fundamental rights and their child's education have choices have opportunities for their children to follow their dreams and their passions and finally is the willingness to go get all of that done though those are the five big inputs and I have to say from the very beginning of our journey we have seen amazing support and we have seen consistent resistance and that is where we stand today across this whole nation I will look back on this Administration and one of the proudest days will be the day that we signed on the steps of the capital in Richmond Virginia a bill that empowered parents to make decisions whether their child wears a mask in school or not we got two Democrats to come with us we got the bill passed and off we went on our journey to empower parents in their children's lives because that's who should be at the head of the [Applause] table and that role of parents spreads over a spectrum that is all the way from homeschooling your children to choosing that they go to a school outside of the public system or to sitting on the PTA and managing through the public school system that is parents' choice that is parents responsibility that is engaging parents in their children's lives and I always marry it with a clear message parents you have a responsibility to be engaged in your children's Lives full stop they come together rights and responsibilities our second issue in Virginia was making sure that we understood what was going on and the reality was as I said parents had literally had the wool pulled over their eyes they were being told their children were doing fine and let me just take it down another level our state test scores kept showing increasing literacy scores and math scores because they changed the rules yes the nape scores were showing declining literary and math results and when we were able to come in and change the way our state scores were assessed what we found was 23s of Virginia middle school and Elementary School students were either failing or near failing math and reading [Music] two3 now friends there's a lot of ways to judge success but let me tell you that is not success and it was at that moments that we were able to shake the system and say we need to intervene aggressively now and that means first and foremost passing the Virginia literacy so that we can change the way we teach students how to read second of all introducing intensive tutoring across the entire Commonwealth so that students who need help can get it third making sure we're attacking chronic absenteeism because guess what the previous administration had taught families and kids that showing up at school wasn't really needed and we know it is and finally making it impossible for anybody to disagree with us and I have to say the number of meetings we've been in where we go through the data and people try to pick at it and say that's not true our goal was to make it incontrovertible that we have a massive problem and lo and behold everyone came together school systems were reluctant in adopting the Intensive tutoring but today they all have legislators were resistant in moving forward with that kind of effort but we passed $418 million of special funding for a multi-year program to lift up children across the Commonwealth we had to get this done and I will tell you it works but the transparency then must translate into actions that are long-term oriented first thing we had to do was change our standards and we went to work to lift up every standard across Virginia to make it more rigorous to hold students to higher expectations so that we know that they can Master a topic before they progress to the next level our history standards were quite a lift we wanted to teach our children all the history good and the bad stunning it was hard for us to convince everyone that we should include a Civics element in our history standard so that we understand what it means to be a good citizen in the foundational Frameworks of our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and our Declaration of Independence we want to teach about the holocost we want to make sure students understand that evil is in the world and yes we want to make sure we have a robust education about slavery and the Reconstruction and civil rights and where our country has been the lift was big but we now made our way through all of the core subjects and that to me is going to reflect on students achievement over years and years to come the next big building block was to address the basic fact that if we have two-thirds of our students who are failing or near failing their their standard of learnings test in reading and in math how come 90% or 89% of our schools are fully accredited how do how do you reconcile that and so we went to work to make sure that we were separating this concept of accreditation and performance and I firmly believe that the work that's being done in Virginia today can literally be the template for the nation that yes an accredited school is a school that has operational satisfactory elements Financial controls a security plan the lights work there a parking lot that's safe that is a school that's accredited but meanwhile we've created a whole second system which is our performance assessment and support system and let's understand whether our schools are really educating our students and the ultimate test is when they graduate are they College ready War career ready or military ready are they ready for life can they read in the third grade do they understand the basic principles of our freedom and liberty in Virginia and yes do they have a comprehensive understanding of where we have come from to where we are going can't we teach algebra to eth graders all of them where do we need to put more help because a school isn't failing but it's not doing great let's find that spot this is going to be a Monumental change the fears come from everywhere wait a minute you're telling our schools that they're not as good as they thought they were yes wait a minute you're telling teachers that that maybe the students that they're teaching aren't doing as well yes we love teachers we want to pay them more we also know that they need help and we want to be able to direct that help where it's needed but we must know where it should go my friends this is huge we've also worked to create Choice within our public school system outside our Public School System our scholarship driven lab uh scholarship driven tax program that allows families to tap into funds to go outside the public school system was hardly even used when we came in we expanded the size and now it is fully used across the Commonwealth of Virginia we introduced our version of charter schools which we call lab schools an amazing Innovation where we bring highered School systems often times the private sector in to build a purpose-built school to address a local need everything from a school that is educating teachers in our rural area that will stay there to stem schools to Health Care schools to Maritime schools where we build submarines and aircraft carriers to one of my favorites which is our space high school that sits next to where we launch rockets this is innovation and this is what we need in our school systems finally we have to revert back and make sure that parents know all of this and if we do not have transparency so that parents can see how their children are doing and what's available to them then we have not fulfilled our number one priority which is to get parents back in charge of their children we have sent around model policy no discussions with children about life's most challenging issues like gender without a parent knowing about it first let's have a whole department of Parental information engagement so that we can work with the local school divisions so that parents get access to all of this information on a specified basis for their child and finally we have to go to battle every single day to protect all of that and I want to thank our attorney general Jason Marez who has won more court cases in the the Commonwealth of Virginia protecting parents' rights than any place in the nation and so Jason's not here but Jason thank you thank you thank [Applause] you let me spend three minutes on higher ed and then I'm going to let everybody get back to the rest of your conference maybe I'll spend five our big concerns around higher ed can't be limited to a single front page on a yellow pad they're extensive they range from everything from are we matching the effort to educate the next generation of leaders to the needs it's one of the big efforts that I'm so proud that we have undertaken in Virginia which is to match in demand jobs to what is being taught in our higher education institutions than to match that to a transparent understanding of Roi for the school is your child going to graduate in four years or take six or never are they going to get a job that allows them to return get a return on either your family's investment or the loans that they may have taken what is the reward for going to school we see the same need to create alternative Pathways not just for four-year universities but in our community colleges that is our Workforce engine let's make sure that we're offering fast-paced credentials so that someone who does not feel like they need to go to a 4-year University can go get a credential that will get them a job and have a fulfilling career and I will tell you if you want to make a lot of money in the Commonwealth of Virginia being an electrician or a welder this is where it's at big big opportunities second big area that we've had massive concerns about is freedom of speech on campuses across the Commonwealth of Virginia and the reality is that students feel intimidated and so we have held conferences and symposiums we've challenged our school leaders to make sure that the classroom is a place for exchange of ideas but not not to indoctrinate this is hard this is a long-term battle faculties are entrenched they do believe that at the end of the day there is a much bigger scope of the First Amendment and they can in fact exercise it the last area that I want to touch on is safety on our campuses none of us none of us felt comfortable with what was going on on our college campuses we watched tent cities be formed we heard stories of students who were literally shouted down by Rude others but on top of that intimidated and interrupted blatant anti-semitic acts that is not an educational environment and so not only did we move quickly and not only did the Attorney General lay out a very clear path of my authorities not only did we work with all of our colleges and universities but we arrested 125 people last spring we took down the tents and we told everybody not here we will not have it my [Applause] friends I stood on the steps of a capital that was designed by Thomas Jefferson in a commonwealth that was the home to our Founders who literally were the pen of Liberty and the voice of Liber Liberty and the sword of Liberty and I put my hand on a Bible and I said I will support and protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Virginia that First Amendment right was actually framed on statutes in the Commonwealth of Virginia again penned by Thomas Jefferson among others and yet we must be clear there are bright lines and it requires adults in the room to point them out and make sure that no one crosses over them this is our chance we spent the summer making sure that our universities had updated their codes of conduct what are we going to do when tents show up what are the consequences what do we do with masks on campus where students are using them to hide and obscure their identity what do we do when guests on campus are rudely treated as opposed to welcomed to a free exchange of ideas how do we deal with the fact that anti-Semitism and acts of anti-Semitism have gone through the roof all of it is critically important to make sure that we stand strong in a moment where again there are people who want to see us waver in the minute we waver they will rush in that is the challenge in front of us and so the work that you have over the course of today the work that we have in the Commonwealth of Virginia going forward and as a nation is rested on again these founding principle beliefs that parents are in charge of their children's lives we must have extraordinary transparency in what's happening in curriculum and results we have to have expectation of Excellence we can remove the ceiling and raise the floor we must provide alternative Pathways and choice for parents that ranges all the way from homeschool to to education education savings accounts to an extraordinary public school system that works with parents deeply engaged at the foundation and find that we have to do the work we cannot be intimidated nor can we waver because the future of the country depends on [Applause] it and so today is a day of exchanging ideas of focusing of directing I also hope it is a day of inspiration a day where yes we solemnly remember a day of loss a day of clear descriptions of Good and Evil a day of Heroes but it's also a day that we remember that America stands for something that is truly worth standing for and that is our future and I look forward to marching into that future with all of you arm in-arm so that we in fact have a generation of Americans that will lead will serve and will once again reflect and represent the values that we hold dear God bless you and thank you [Applause] I'd like to apologize for the unscheduled Interruption but thank you for uh soldiering through and really appreciate you being here that's great thank you [Applause]