Education superintendent announces resignation
Balow gives no reason for decision in letter to Youngkin
Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow announced her resignation Wednesday, about 14 months after taking office.
“I am grateful and humbled to have had the opportunity to serve the children and families of Virginia and I continue to strongly support you and your vision for education in Virginia,” Balow wrote in her resignation letter to Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Balow’s resignation is effective March 9. In her letter, Balow said she and her family will continue to live in Virginia and support Youngkin’s priorities.
“More than any other contemporary elected official, I believe you have reinstated the importance of providing quality education and I know that many other states are eager to follow your lead,” the letter said.
The Youngkin administration has faced criticism in recent months for its handling of several state education issues.
In January, the Department of Education acknowledged an error in calculating state aid for K-12 schools, leading to a $201 million shortfall. The mix-up stemmed from a failure to hold localities harmless from the elimination of the state’s portion of the grocery sales tax. After the error came to light, Democrats slammed the administration for “dropping the ball” on education funding. The error has since been addressed, with legislators passing a “skinny” spending bill this weekend that allocated money to local school divisions.
In the fall, a re-written version of draft social studies standards was released that appeared to largely
throw out a version that experts spent months developing.
The draft also left Martin Kuther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth out of the standards, and referred to Indigenous people as immigrants. The VDOE later said the holidays were inadvertently omitted and the mistake was corrected, and Balow apologized about the use of “immigrants.”
A new draft, which combined elements of both earlier drafts, was released last month and the department is accepting public comments on it until March 21.
Balow was appointed as Virginia’s 26th superintendent of public instruction on Jan. 15, 2022. She previously served as Wyoming’s state superintendent, an elected position.
Macaulay Porter, Youngkin’s spokesperson, sent
a statement in response to Balow’s announcement: “The governor thanks Superintendent Barlow for her service to the commonwealth and her work in advancing the governor’s education agenda to empower parents and restore excellence in education.”
The governor’s office did not respond to a question regarding a timeline to name Balow’s replacement.
James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association, said Balow’s resignation was not unexpected.
“Her tenure basically has been marred by a series of scandals, poor judgment and overall inexperience,” Fedderman said. “And in the wake of her departure, the Department of Education and school divisions across the state will be left basically to clean up numerous unresolved
messes.”
He specifically called out Balow’s handling of the revised history standards and the rollout of what he called the “anti-transgender model policies.”
“This is an opportunity to start with a clean slate and to truly put some teeth in what (Gov. Youngkin says) about wanting to be an inclusive and collaborative Commonwealth,” Fedderman said.
In her letter to the governor, Balow pledged her cooperation in ensuring a smooth transition and expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to continue to serve the administration as a consultant on K-12 policy.