Youngkin appoints Tenn. schools official as new state superintendent

Lisa Coons, who serves as chief academic officer of the Tennessee Department of Education, will take over as head of the Virginia Department of Education on April 17.

Coons has worked in Tennessee education for almost a decade, and spearheaded the state’s revision of English Language Arts instruction.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin “has set a bold academic agenda that puts students first and empowers families to help set priorities for their children,” Coons said in a news release. “We have an opportunity in Virginia to be the country’s best state for education, and we’ll achieve that vision through partnerships with families, educators and school division leaders.”

Youngkin on Wednesday also announced that Jeremy Raley, who has served as superintendent of Goochland County Public Schools since 2016, will be the new chief of staff for the Virginia Department of Education, and that he has appointed Dale Sturdifen, a Mecklenburg County School Board member for 11 years, as a new member of the state Board of Education.

“I’m pleased that education leaders like Dr. Lisa Coons and Dr. Jeremy Raley have decided to join our team and further our commitment to empower parents, restore excellence in education, and address catastrophic learning loss in our K-12 system,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Dr. Coons is a dedicated educator with vast experience in K-12 academic programming, instructional leadership, and early education. Dr. Raley is a Virginia educator, former Goochland Superintendent, and Shenandoah teacher and principal.”

At the Tennessee Department of Education, Coons led the state’s K-12 academic programming as well as early childhood education. Under Coons’ leadership, the state agency launched a $100 million reading initiative and a large-scale tutoring program.

The Youngkin administration for the past four months has decried Virginia students’ “catastrophic” learning loss, as shown in results of a national assessment known as “The Nation’s Report Card.”

The assessment shows that fourth-grade reading and math scores in Virginia and Tennessee were the same in 2022. Virginia, however, saw some of the largest declines in the U.S. among fourth graders since 2019, while Tennessee’s drops were smaller.

Virginia eighth graders out-performed Tennessee eighth graders in both reading and math tests in 2022, with smaller declines than Tennessee compared to 2019 scores.

Before she worked at Tennessee’s department of education, Coons worked as an executive officer of division priority schools for Metro Nashville Public Schools for about two years.

“Dr. Coons’ proven leadership will serve Virginia’s students, families and teachers well and help make Virginia’s education system best-in-class,” said Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera in a news release. “She has demonstrated success in addressing learning loss, creating and implementing evidence-based literacy policy and practices, and building strong partnerships with teachers, communities, school and division leaders, and parents.”

Coons was also named a finalist for the top education job in Nebraska last week, according to the Nebraska Department of Education.

Balow departed earlier this month after the state education department came under fire for errors in its redrafting of K-12 history standards and for miscalculating how much education funding localities would receive from the state. She did not provide a reason for her resignation.

According to confidential severance terms obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch through a public records request, Balow will receive $266,213 in semi-monthly settlement payments over the next year.

Chief of staff

Raley began his career in Shenandoah County where he progressed from a physical education teacher, to a principal and then to division superintendent.

The Virginia Department of Education’s previous chief of staff, Dicky Shanor, had worked under Balow at the Wyoming Department of Education. They both left their Wyoming jobs in January 2022 to head for Virginia.

Shanor worked his last day at the Virginia Department of Education Dec. 31, and moved back to Wyoming to work for its education department again.

Virginia State Board of Education

A U.S. Marines veteran, Sturdifen is also a former Virginia State Police officer and former staffer for Rep. Bob Good, R-5th. After Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th, died on Nov. 28, Sturdifen sought the GOP nomination for Congress that went to Leon Benjamin.

Sturdifen will replace Suparna Dutta, who was ousted by Senate Democrats last month after Youngkin appointed her in July.

“In an appalling show of politics where Suparna Dutta was removed from the Board of Education, I am also announcing Dale Sturdifen as my new appointee to the Board of Education,” Youngkin said in a statement. “He is a former Mecklenburg County School Board member, special agent, and U.S. marine and I thank him for his willingness to take on the most critical education issues of our day.”

Dutta’s removal came one week after she pushed back against comments from another board member who said she wanted the state’s history standards to acknowledge that the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were “fundamental in enshrining slavery.”