{"id":1015849,"date":"2021-11-15T16:28:45","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T21:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1015849"},"modified":"2021-11-15T16:28:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T21:28:47","slug":"loudoun-county-schools-see-mass-exodus-as-gov-elect-youngkin-promises-school-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/loudoun-county-schools-see-mass-exodus-as-gov-elect-youngkin-promises-school-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Loudoun County Schools See &#039;Mass Exodus&#039; as Gov.-Elect Youngkin Promises School Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Floudoun-county-schools-see-mass-exodus-as-gov-elect-youngkin-promises-school-choice%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1015849&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1349844111-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), the school district that has become a political hotbed amid an alleged rape <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/10\/14\/loudoun-county-school-board\/\">coverup<\/a> and the implementation of Critical Race Theory, is seeing a \u201cmass exodus\u201d of students that is set to cost millions of dollars in state funding, <a href=\"https:\/\/loudounnow.com\/2021\/11\/11\/election-puts-school-choice-initiatives-in-spotlight\/\">according<\/a> to <em>Loudoun Now<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The outlet reported that enrollment \u201cis down 7% from projections that align with the rate of population growth in the county,\u201d which could translate to a loss of $7 million in state funding.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Despite the decline in students, LCPS is still asking Richmond to maintain current levels of state funding, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loudountimes.com\/news\/school-board-seeks-to-maintain-current-state-funding-despite-enrollment-drop\/article_7bf7fa94-41dc-11ec-9b88-87842030580d.html\">according<\/a> to the <em>Loudoun Times-Mirror<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Loudoun County School Board passed a measure,\u201d the outlet reported, \u201callowing the school district\u2019s legislative consultants in Richmond to advocate for the preservation of current levels of state funding on behalf of LCPS for the 2022 fiscal year, despite a decline in Loudoun\u2019s student enrollment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sharon Willoughby, LCPS\u2019s chief financial officer, reported that the school district \u201chad a net loss in our revenue\u201d compared to the budget for fiscal year 2022. According to the <em>Times-Mirror<\/em>, \u201cThe total revenue deficit amounted to $17 million, she said, which is currently offset by about $10 million\u201d in state funding.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>While Loudoun County provided a case study in public education issues that exist across the country, it is also regarded by many as the lynchpin securing Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin\u2019s victory. On the campaign trail, Youngkin himself referred to the school district as \u201cground zero\u201d for education issues, as Breitbart News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/education\/2021\/07\/01\/critical-race-theory-ground-zero-republican-glenn-youngkin-rallies-parents-in-loudoun-county-virginia\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While it did not turn blue completely, the county certainly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/11\/02\/republicans-take-back-control-virginia-house-statewide-upset\/\">swung<\/a> more red \u2014 with the rest of the Commonwealth \u2014 as Youngkin gained nine points after 2017 Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie lost the county by 20 points.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"7.1491228070175\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">That big red dot? That is Loudoun, which moved 10.0 points to the right compared to 2017. Loudoun details \u2013&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Zc9dIxVxCv\">https:\/\/t.co\/Zc9dIxVxCv<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YtAMDcOd2U\">pic.twitter.com\/YtAMDcOd2U<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Virginia Public Access Project (@vpapupdates) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vpapupdates\/status\/1455708023696068620?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 3, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But there is a shift, according to Geary Higgins, the chairman of the 10th Congressional District Republican Party, who says LCPS has \u201clost 10,000 students,\u201d adding that \u201cthe constituency is going to support school choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 40 years, the school enrollments have never dropped,\u201d Higgins, who is a former LCPS board member and county supervisor, said, according to <em>Loudoun Now<\/em>. Higgins believes&nbsp;that local elections are becoming increasingly important to voters, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of people that sat on the sidelines and didn\u2019t pay attention to local elections. \u2026 This has pushed a lot of people towards school choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><em>Loudoun Now<\/em> reports that school board members and parents alike are citing an increase in homeschooling and private schooling as primary factors in LCPS\u2019s hemorrhaging student population. Parents choosing to leave the public education system behind are citing both draconian policies put in place as a response to the coronavirus \u2014 such as remote learning and masking \u2014 as well as the \u201cpoliticization of public academia\u201d through the teaching of Critical Race Theory. Higgins believes politics is having an outsized impact.<\/p>\n<p>While current homeschooling numbers have yet to be released by the Virginia Department of Education, <em>Loudoun Now<\/em> reports that \u201cduring the 2019-2020 school year, 1,821 students were homeschooled in Loudoun. Last year, that number increased to 3,326 students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the 2022 midterms coming up, many Republicans see education as a winning issue across America \u2014 viewing Youngkin\u2019s win as a blueprint for winning back purple-to-blue parts of the country.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, with Virginia\u2019s rather dramatic shift after having voted for President Joe Biden by ten points only a year before Republicans swept control of all three statewide offices and the General Assembly, there are three Democrat-held Congressional Districts that the House GOP campaign arm is targeting: Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/11\/03\/house-republican-campaign-arm-expands-list-of-targeted-democrats\/\">Jennifer <\/a>Wexton\u2019s&nbsp;Tenth, Rep. Elaine Luria\u2019s Second, and Rep. Abigail Spanberger\u2019s Seventh.<\/p>\n<p>As Breitbart News Reported, Youngkin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/11\/03\/republican-glenn-youngkin-won-in-two-democrat-controlled-u-s-house-districts-in-virginia\/\">won<\/a> Luria\u2019s and Spanberger\u2019s districts handily, taking 8.3 and 15.4 points, respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), the school district that has become a political hotbed amid an alleged rape coverup and the implementation of Critical Race Theory, is seeing a \u201cmass &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1015849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1015849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1015849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1015849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1015849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1015849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}