Virginia DOE proposes no longer calling George Washington 'father of our country' on tests

VIRGINIA (WJLA) — From George Washington to George Mason to Thomas Jefferson, changes may be on the way for how Virginia students are tested on history in public schools.

Every seven years, the Virginia Department of Education reviews standards of learning tests and discusses, and sometimes proposes, changes.

Two of the proposed changes to Virginia’s history and social science standards of learning tests would eliminate calling George Washington the “Father of our country” and James Madison the “Father of the Constitution.” This is one of the items the new Virginia Board of Education is expected to discuss this week in Richmond.

The nine-member board is a mix of Terry McAuliffe, Ralph Northam and Glenn Youngkin appointees.

Four members were appointed by Democrat Governors, including the president of the board. The five new board members were appointed by Youngkin, a Republican.

“From the onset, this administration has really come across as anti-public education,” Atif Qarni told WJLA on Monday.

Qarni was former Gov. Ralph Northam’s secretary of education.

“I do feel that, right now, we're headed in a direction that is not really healthy for our educators and staff and that's why they're leaving in big numbers,” said Qarni. “You see that in the recent reports. So my recommendation for the Board of Education would be to really elevate the educators because they are on the front line supporting our children and try to get away from some of this toxic narrative that's been created by the Youngkin administration."

Qarni led the State Department of Education when Northam started the process of changing how students are tested on the history portion of standardized tests. He said the Northam administration had a keen interest in changing the historical standards.

“These proposed changes, if they go through, as is, will really separate apart in the best possible way to take a holistic perspective and really teach our history because they both provide a balance between depth and breadth,” said Qarni. “And then they also create a system where [a] variety of perspectives can really be understood and comprehended. And teachers can really work with students to really understand their local communities, but also have a nice global perspective and connecting the dots."

Supara Dutta is from Fairfax County and she is one of the new Youngkin Board of Education appointees. Dutta recommends parents read the proposed changes to the social studies SOLs and let the board know how they feel about the proposed changes.

“Many parents have heard the governor say from time to time we want to teach the kids how to think not what to think,” said Dutta. “So I think that it would be great to be able to have a good, honest discussion and a full discussion about some of the changes that are coming up and the Social History and Social Sciences curriculum.”

The Virginia Board of Education meets Wednesday. It is unclear if the new majority on the board will agree to the proposed changes to the history and social science SOLs.