Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Virginia's House Bill 1088, which would require the state board of education to aid local school boards with instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy, was vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) on April 2, 2024.
If the bill had been enacted, the board would have been required to "make available to each local school board instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy that are based on and include peer-reviewed scientific sources" and also to "develop, adopt, and make available to each local school board model policies and procedures ... pertaining to the selection of instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy."
In his veto statement, Governor Youngkin wrote (PDF), "The Standards of Learning already provides [sic] instructional material related to environmental issues," adding, "Additionally, school divisions [sic] must integrate these new resources into their curriculum outside the standard process, necessitating purchasing instructional material and reallocating instructional time without additional funding."
However, Virginia's state science standards received the grade of F in the 2020 study of the treatment of climate change in state science standards conducted by NCSE and the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund. And nothing in House Bill 1088 would have required school districts to adopt the instructional materials or the model policies and procedures provided by the state board of education.
Responding to Governor Youngkin's statement, NCSE’s Glenn Branch told WVTF (April 4, 2024) that the bill was "not redundant ... and it was something that was needed given the lackluster treatment of climate change in the state science standards."
