Glenn Youngkin is outraged that Virginia schools denied top students national merit awards because of ‘fairness’

Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin criticized education officials in his state after seven schools refused to tell students they had received national merit awards, a move the governor argued was in the name of “fairness.”

The National Merit Awards are among the most prestigious awards a high school student can receive, with only 50,000 students out of the top 1.5 million PSAT scores receiving them. Last week, Yankin’s administration launched an investigation into public schools, and he also called for an investigation into how schools use public funds.

“[The schools] have a manic focus on equal outcomes for all students at all costs. And at the heart of the American dream is excellence, progress, stretching and recognizing that we have students with different abilities,” Youngkin told ABC 7.

“Some students can run at the same level, others need extra help and we have to let the students run as fast as they can to dream the biggest dreams they can dream and then go after them,” he added.

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Glenn Youngkin, Governor of Virginia, speaks to members of the media following the cabinet swearing-in ceremony at the Virginia Presidential Mansion in Richmond, Virginia, USA, on Saturday, January 15, 2022. Youngkin, former co-CEO of Carlyle Group Inc. is the first Republican elected to office since 2009.
(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Virginia has been a hotbed of conflict between parents and far-left school administrators.
(REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Schools that withheld top student awards included Annandale, West Potomac, John R. Lewis, Edison, Thomas Jefferson for Science and Technology, Westfield, and Langley High, according to the Daily Mail. Some schools, such as Thomas Jefferson, eventually notified students but waited until important deadlines had passed for college scholarships.

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“We need to get to the bottom of what appears to be a blatant, deliberate attempt to disadvantage high achievers at one of the best schools in the country,” Youngkin said last week.. “Parents and students deserve answers, and Attorney General Miyares will launch a full investigation. I believe that this failure may have caused financial harm to these students and their parents, and that this failure may have violated the Virginia Human Rights Act.”

Newly sworn in Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares works in his office January 19, 2022 in Richmond, Virginia.
(Julia Randleman for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The offense comes after Fairfax County Public Schools A new strategy has recently been adopted to ensure “equal outcomes for all students without exception”.

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The FCPS says its own preliminary investigation found that the delay in notification of the meritorious awards was the result of human error.

“As a reminder, as soon as this error was discovered, school staff reached out to colleges to update the records that established scholars had applied for,” the FCPS said in a statement.

Landon Mion of Fox News contributed to this report.