Kate Masters, Virginia Mercury

A new diversity training Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration enacted includes two references to a “creator,” religious language that struck several workers who saw it as inappropriate for inclusion in training material that’s mandatory for new state government employees.

The Youngkin administration created the “Working Together for Virginia” video as its own attempt to comply with a 2020 law requiring the state’s human resources agency to provide an online diversity and cultural competency training course for state employees.

The “creator” lines appear to be drawn from a portion of Youngkin’s inaugural speech that was repeated in a later executive order that reshaped the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the governor’s cabinet.

“Most of all, every one of us is made in the image of our creator,” the narrator in the training course says, quoting from Youngkin’s executive order. “Since the first settlers arrived a little more than 400 years ago, we have been an imperfect people on the course to a more perfect union. At times, we’ve truly failed to live up to our ideals, but we all want to do what is right and what is morally just, even if we fall short. What is seared in our heart by a loving, almighty creator is not a desire for power or conquest, not a love of self or personal advancement, rather it’s a belief that life is worth living when we serve a greater cause than self.”

Three state employees who spoke to the Virginia Mercury on the condition of anonymity to avoid job retaliation described being shocked to find religious themes in a training they were required to take.

“It was an instant, knee-jerk, gut reaction that this is wrong on any level,” said one self-described agnostic employee. “I’m working for the state. I didn’t choose to go work for the church down the street where I expect this.”

The fact the text appeared to come from an earlier Youngkin speech, the employee said, didn’t make a difference.

“It actually makes me even madder,” the worker said. “Because then it just seals the deal that this is just all his agenda being forced into government employee training.”

Youngkin is open about his Christian faith, and shortly after being sworn into office he led a public prayer for the state. Every session of the Virginia General Assembly begins with a prayer delivered by various faith leaders, and it’s not uncommon for Virginia politicians in both parties to publicly refer to their religious beliefs. The section of the Virginia Constitution on freedom of religion and separation of church and state begins: “That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence.”

Rules for religion in the workplace are more complicated, with federal protections generally requiring employers to accommodate both religious and non-religious employees alike. The definition of harassment in Virginia’s employee handbook includes conduct that “shows hostility or aversion” on the basis of religion.

A second state employee who took the training said it left them feeling “equal parts angry and sad.”

“Politics plays a role in being state employees that are subject to political whims,” the second employee said. “But never before this have I seen any sort of overt religious bias injected into anything that’s aligned with the state.”

Macaulay Porter, a Youngkin spokesperson, said the new training “reinforces the governor’s commitment to diversity while adhering to the fundamentals of equality.” In a Tuesday email, she wrote that the administration developed the course in coordination with other state agencies and officials, including the Department of Human Resource Management, Secretary of Administration Lyn McDermid and Secretary of the Commonwealth Kay James.

Asked about the employee concerns over the religious references, Porter said the language was “derived from the Declaration of Independence and other documents from the United States’ founding fathers.”

“At this time, we have not received concerns from employees,” she added. “We welcome and appreciate any feedback as the aim of the training is to guide best practices for an inclusive workplace.”

The Virginia General Assembly first mandated diversity training for state employees in 2020, passing legislation that required an online module with specific information on race, ethnicity, gender, religion and other protected classes. The original training was developed under the state’s first-ever director of diversity, equity and inclusion appointed by former Gov. Ralph Northam.

Youngkin’s office has significantly revised the course along with adding religious references. Porter confirmed that the eight and half-minute video comprises the entirety of the administration’s current diversity training for state employees. The module now includes a message from Youngkin, as well as defining terms such as “diversity,” “equitable opportunity” and “inclusion.”

“We acknowledge that too many of our citizens have not received the equal opportunity they deserve and we recognize that diversity, when genuinely embraced, strengthens our commonwealth,” the narrator in the video says. There are also some references to specific goals, including aligning the demographics of agency staff with the demographics of Virginia as a whole.

A former official with the Northam administration who was familiar with the development process said the Northam-era module was developed in conjunction with the One Virginia plan, a framework released in 2021 that sought to “institutionalize” diversity within state agencies. The official, along with a state employee interviewed by the Mercury, said the first training was roughly an hour long, including a discussion component, and included specific sections on terms such as microaggressions and examples of ways to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Their descriptions were confirmed through a Freedom of Information Act request to the state’s Department of Human Resource Management. The agency on Wednesday provided multiple videos used in the original version of the training as well as the script, which encouraged employees to reflect on the materials and point out instances of inappropriate or insensitive behavior.

The state employee said the new course from the Youngkin administration completely removed the original training’s interactive elements with guidance on inclusive language and exercises intended to foster empathy among employees with diverse backgrounds. The lack of specificity — along with the religious overtones — left some staff feeling overlooked by the administration, the employee said.

“I’d say it’s pretty insensitive to some and actually offensive to others,” the worker added.

Another state employee, along with the former Northam official, expressed doubt that the revised training met the requirements of the 2020 law, which directed the course to include specific strategies on creating an inclusive and equitable culture and promoting diversity in recruitment and hiring.

“It sounds like we’re not meeting the actual statutory obligation, which is what our video was intended to do,” said the former official, who spoke under condition of anonymity to candidly discuss concerns over the changes. Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, also said the new course failed to meet the intent of the legislation, which she developed after working with a constituent who wanted to change the gender listed on their government-issued identification to match their identity.

Guzman said she ultimately had to escalate the request to the commissioner of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, underscoring the need for inclusion training among lower-level employees.

“The governor talks about what he wants to accomplish, but he’s been on the job now for five months and we have yet to see what he’s trying to do specifically to diversify the workforce at the state level,” Guzman said. “And that’s something that’s under his control.”

Both she and the former official also shared concerns that the revised course — including the message from Youngkin — injected politics into a training that initially focused solely on workplace practices for state agencies and employees. The original material did not feature Northam or any of his political appointees, the former official said, with the hope that the module would “live beyond the administration.”

Revising much of Virginia’s former work on equity and inclusion initiatives has been a focal point of Youngkin’s term as governor. His first executive order banned “inherently divisive concepts,” including what he’s described as critical race theory, from public school classrooms. The order put an immediate end to some initiatives at the state’s Department of Education, including a push to revise statewide math curricula that factored in concerns over disproportionately lower test scores among Black, Hispanic and low-income students.

Less than two months after he took office, his administration repealed virtually every other equity-based policy within the department, including teaching resources intended to help educators address biases in the classroom. The move was part of a broader effort to remove the word “equity” from many government offices, including renaming the director of diversity, equity and inclusion — the new position created by Northam — as the director of diversity, opportunity and inclusion.

Proponents of the equity concept describe it as a more assertive approach to addressing racial disparities and systemic racism by realigning resources to ensure better outcomes for historically marginalized groups. Supporters argue that a focus on providing equal opportunities to everyone is insufficient given the historic treatment of many communities, including Black Americans, that’s put them at a continued disadvantage.

Youngkin and other conservative critics argue it encourages overly broad racial stereotypes and reorients public policy away from the idea that government action should be race-neutral. In his first executive order, the governor said that “divisive concepts,” including critical race theory, “instruct students to only view life through the lens of race and presumes that some students are consciously or unconsciously racist, sexist, or oppressive, and that other students are victims.”

In public appearances, Youngkin has expressed support for concepts such as diversity while skirting specific instances of current and historic racism or oppression. His inaugural address referenced a country with “chapters of great injustice” while encouraging Virginians to come together in the present.

“We are one Virginia,” he said, language incorporated into the state’s new diversity training. “We are all sailing in the same boat.”

The ACLU of Virginia said it was looking into the matter.

“The ACLU of Virginia is very concerned by the inclusion of religious indoctrination in a required training for state employees,” said Matt Callahan, a senior ACLU staff attorney. “The First Amendment guarantees the religious freedom of all individuals by ensuring the separation of church and state, including for Commonwealth employees.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Robert Zullo for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has appointed McKenzie Snow — a former Trump official and aide to one-time U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos — as Virginia’s deputy secretary of education, the administration confirmed.

Snow began the role on Monday and will join state Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera on the governor’s Cabinet, overseeing instruction in Virginia from pre-kindergarten to higher education.

Previously, she served as director of the Division of Learner Support for the New Hampshire Department of Education, supervising more than 110 employees and representing the agency to state legislators and local school administrators, according to Youngkin officials.

“The governor has built a team who have been leaders and change agents in their fields,” spokesperson Macaulay Porter said in a statement. “McKenzie knows first-hand what it takes to build a best-in-class education system and we are thrilled to have McKenzie join the administration.”

Much of Snow’s work in education policy has centered on school choice. Before joining the Trump administration, she worked as policy director at the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a think tank formed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2008. In the role, she advocated for multiple initiatives aimed at expanding alternative education options, including increased funding for charter schools and education savings accounts.

Adopted by five states, savings account programs allow families to invest the state money appropriated for their children — known as per-pupil funding in Virginia — into accounts that can be used to pay for private school tuition and often other expenses, including transportation and textbooks.

Establishing a similar program has been a long-time priority for some state legislators, but opponents argue there’s little accountability to ensure that funding is being used for educational purposes and that children are receiving a good education. Detractors also argue they funnel taxpayer money to private schools — often religious academies.

Snow also pushed for a federal tax-credit scholarship program, which would offer deductions to individuals and businesses who donated to programs offering private school scholarships to low-income students. In a 2017 policy paper co-authored with other analysts, she argued eligibility requirements for the programs should extend to families making three times the federal poverty level.

She continued advocating for tax credits after joining the Trump administration, first as a policy adviser to DeVos before taking over as K-12 Policy Director for the U.S. Department of Education. In 2020, she was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List for law and policy, which described Snow as spearheading the policy proposal for the administration.

Virginia has an existing tax credits program that’s also open to families making up to three times the federal poverty level (around $79,500 for a family of four). But the program is little-used, according to a 2021 report submitted to the House and Senate Finance Committees. Last year, eligible programs and private schools received just over $12.8 million in donations and offered a total of 4,674 scholarships. Thirty-seven percent of Virginia students are eligible, according to analysis by the think tank Ed Choice, but only 0.3 percent actually participate in the program statewide.

School choice has been a major initiative for Youngkin, who campaigned on the promise of opening 20 new charter schools across Virginia. Efforts this year were largely scuttled in the Senate’s Education and Health committee, but budget negotiators are still debating legislation that would allow more universities to open “laboratory schools” focused on innovative curriculum.

Currently, though, Democrats and Republicans are divided on how the schools should be overseen and funded. Senate Democrats are pushing for legislation that would require money for lab schools to be included in the state’s budget, though Republicans argue the schools could become self-sufficient through fundraising and a one-time allocation of $150 million pledged by Youngkin.

The Senate proposal would also ensure that local public school divisions still receive funding for any student who moves to a lab school, while House Republicans are pushing for legislation that would transfer the state’s share of dollars to the lab school along with the student.

The debate over spending underscores continued partisanship over school choice issues in Virginia. Analysis from The Commonwealth Institute, a left-leaning think tank that advocates for low-income Virginians, ranks the state as 41st in the country when it comes to per-pupil funding. Education advocates and Democratic legislators have argued that charter and lab schools — as well as initiatives such as education savings accounts — would pull state dollars from already underfunded public schools.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, they take money away,” said James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association, one of the state’s largest teachers unions. “And then public schools are left being told to operate as if they had all the funds they were supposed to have.” He described Snow’s appointment as another effort to undermine the state’s public schools, pointing to her support for voucher programs — another school choice initiative — as a research fellow for the Charles Koch Institute.

The Youngkin administration, though, highlighted Snow’s work on a range of state and federal initiatives, including overseeing the distribution of nearly $75 billion in emergency COVID-19 funding to states. Porter said she was also responsible for allocating millions of masks and rapid tests to local school divisions as a special assistant to Trump on the Domestic Policy Council.

“She has significant expertise in multiple education areas, including instructional support, academics and assessment, special education, career and technical education, adult education, student wellness, and nutrition — all of which she recently led at the New Hampshire Department of Education,” Porter said Monday.

In a statement released by the Youngkin administration, Deputy Commissioner Christine Brennan of the New Hampshire Department of Education said Snow had “worked to improve education opportunities for all students alongside families and educators” throughout her career.

Some Virginia advocates, though, were concerned she stayed with the state for less than two years in a career that has included frequent position changes and no experience in the classroom, according to Snow’s official bios and LinkedIn page.

“I will say that I am alarmed by her lack of continuity in any of her roles thus far,” said Taikein Cooper, executive director of Virginia Excels. “I think what we need more than anything in education in the commonwealth right now is a bold vision. And we need people who are going to work with us to make sure that vision comes true.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Robert Zullo for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

John Reaves works as a high school English teacher in Henrico County but commutes 30 miles to work from his home in Louisa. The drive takes time away from his kids, including his young daughter, and the current school year has been tough on him.

Henrico, like every division across Virginia, is back to in-person learning, and Reaves sometimes feels like he’s scrambling to get students caught up after they spent a year and a half isolated at home. The district is dealing with staffing shortages, and teachers are back to their normal responsibilities, including getting kids ready for regularly scheduled standardized testing. Reaves is still committed to teaching, but he knows plenty of colleagues who have considered leaving the profession.

“The general feeling is that many people are at least thinking about career switching,” he said. “It’s just been a lot to keep track of and a lot to be responsible for.”

Henrico County isn’t alone in predicting shortfalls. Over the last three years, the number of unfilled teaching positions across Virginia has spiked by nearly 62 percent, rising from 877 in the 2018-19 school year to 1,420 in 2020-21, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education. In August this year, 76 of the state’s 132 districts reported nearly 5,000 cumulative educator vacancies, according to the state Board of Education.

The growing shortages, which include positions such as school counselors and social workers (classified as educators by the department), have long been a concern for state leaders. But the COVID-19 pandemic has kicked those fears into overdrive amid anecdotal reports that even more teachers are leaving the field.

“Like much of the nation, Virginia continues to face a shortage of educators entering and remaining in Virginia’s public schools,” the Board of Education warned in its latest report to the General Assembly. “This shortage predated the pandemic but is likely to be severely exacerbated by it for years to come.”

The issue of teacher shortages has become a national debate as a growing number of local divisions — as well as some national polls — predict an impending staffing crisis. While some surveys indicate more than half of teachers across the country have considered exiting the profession, other data indicates that most haven’t actually left, and that fears of an education system in turmoil are largely overblown.

Some local numbers also appear to paint a rosier outlook. In some of the state’s largest divisions, including Henrico and Prince William County, turnover rates actually went down between 2019 and 2021. Some districts did see large departure numbers, including Virginia Beach, where 602 educators left the school system (which employs more than 5,000 teachers) between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. But the district was able to hire or shift 596 educators into open positions, leaving relatively little lost ground.

Still, recruitment specialists for local school divisions say those numbers don’t always tell the full story. Anne Glenn-Zeljeznjak, the coordinator of recruitment and retention for Virginia Beach Public Schools, said an additional 79 educators have left the district from July to December this year. And while many divisions are ultimately able to fill open positions, hiring has become a significant administrative burden. With frequent vacancies, school leaders — especially principals — are spending more and more of their time screening applicants or aggressively recruiting for the positions.

“I think what people aren’t seeing is the work that goes into identifying qualified applicants,” Glenn-Zeljeznjak said. “It’s like seeing a beautiful cake for a wedding. They’re seeing the cake, but hours and hours and hours have gone into making sure that it’s beautiful.”

There’s also concern that the most recent numbers aren’t a reflection of what’s to come. Kenya Jackson, the talent acquisition ambassador for Henrico County, said the economic uncertainty of the pandemic seemed to encourage some educators to remain in the field — especially when unemployment was growing and they were able to teach remotely. Now classes are back in session, she’s seen some teachers leave mid-year. The district currently has more than 100 vacancies, and COVID-19 is still casting a shadow on classrooms.

“Teachers are back in the face-to-face environment,” Jackson said. “They’re having to teach all day with a mask. Meanwhile, other industries are reimagining how to conduct their businesses. Many companies have work-from-home options. So, there’s more of that work-life balance in the sense of, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t have to be face-to-face all the time.’”

While shortages are often being examined through the lens of the pandemic, experts worry some of the biggest impacts might be felt years down the road. Virginia was able to sustain a small growth of enrollment in teacher preparation programs from 2010 to 2018, according to one report from the Center for American Progress. But nationwide, enrollment has dropped by more than a third, and plummeted even further among some programs amid the pandemic.

Education advocates also worry that Virginia’s low teacher salaries could deter new graduates from taking jobs at state public schools— even if they gain degrees from in-state universities. According to the Board of Education’s most recent report, Virginia ranks 26th in the country when it comes to average pay for educators. But when those salaries are compared to the average wages of other college graduates, the state ranks even lower.

Lawmakers have approved pay increases over the last several years, including the most recent budget cycle. But there’s broad consensus that it hasn’t been enough to close the gap between teacher salaries offered in many parts of the state and the national average, said Joan Johnson, the assistant superintendent for VDOE’s Department of Teacher Education and Licensure.

At the same time, student enrollment is growing across the state, and educators say they’re being asked to take on more and more responsibilities. Substitute teacher shortages are widespread from Fairfax County to Southwest Virginia, and many teachers have been forced to take on classes when colleagues are absent.

Some districts, including Henrico and Virginia Beach, are paying educators who fill in for coworkers, but Reaves said that’s only part of the struggle. Virginia pediatricians have reported a sharp spike in anxiety and depression among school-aged children and some students are having a tough time adjusting back to in-person learning in addition to getting caught up on curriculum. Reaves said there’s pressure to reverse learning loss quickly, even though many students are struggling with more basic needs.

“I want these kids to be ready for college, but sometimes they’ve got to get a little more comfortable with just being around people,” he said. “Those kinds of soft skills that wouldn’t really be on an SOL. I sometimes feel those should take precedence, and that puts a real strain on your responsibilities as someone trying to administer a curriculum.”

After a 2020 report found basic failures in how effectively Virginia’s education department was addressing teacher shortages, Johnson said the state has launched a number of new initiatives. Her department’s funding was shored up, and for the first time, it’s collecting data not only on the number of vacancies across the state but the reasons teachers are leaving the field. That data is expected to be released later this month, with the hope of using it to refine retention and recruitment strategies.

Funding has also increased. The General Assembly allocated $11.5 million in federal relief dollars toward hiring efforts, including sign-on bonuses for new teachers. Some divisions are also offering bonuses to existing educators, and Johnson said there’s now state funding to support early recruitment initiatives, including some school clubs directed toward students with an interest in the education field.

Still, some districts are struggling. Teacher turnover increased by nearly two percentage points between 2019 and 2021 in Loudoun County, even as the growing district added positions. At the end of January, there were 98 vacancies across the division, which has found itself at the epicenter of Virginia’s wars over critical race theory and transgender student rights.

Roanoke City has also seen a rise in educators leaving the district, and currently has 28 teacher vacancies. According to Jackson, the talent acquisition ambassador for Henrico County, many districts are increasingly filling those slots with provisionally licensed teachers — educators who don’t yet meet all the requirements for a full teacher’s license.

“They’re becoming a much more significant part of the pipeline,” she said. In some ways, they’re an important asset for local school divisions. Glenn-Zeljeznjak, who handles recruitment for Virginia Beach, said many of their provisionally licensed teachers can quickly complete all the requirements for full licensure, and the state is currently examining those requirements in hopes of making it easier for more people to enter the profession.

It’s not a perfect solution, though. Jackson said more districts are depending on provisionally licensed teachers to fill critical shortage areas, including special education, which has the largest number of vacancies across the state. But those students often have intensive needs, and she said many provisionally licensed teachers across the board aren’t always expecting the challenges that come with teaching.

“Someone may have been a math major and now they’re a math teacher,” Jackson said. “But they might not have been in the classroom since the same time they were a student. And now they’re teaching, fulfilling their licensure requirements and learning their craft, all while sometimes teaching our most fragile students.”

As a result, some districts are struggling with provisionally licensed teachers dropping out of the field. It’s also an equity issue. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, a state watchdog agency, found that some rural and high-poverty divisions had disproportionately high numbers of conditionally licensed teachers. In Petersburg, they made up 36 percent of the division’s educators, according to the 2020 report.

The influx of new educators also means more experienced teachers are helping to train their colleagues, as well — another responsibility they’re bearing amid the ongoing pandemic.

“And that’s also overwhelming,” Jackson said. “Because our veteran teachers are having to mentor differently than what they’ve ever had to before.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Robert Zullo for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.