Jillian Balow, Gov. Youngkin's Superintendent of Public Instruction, Resigns

RICHMOND, VA — Virginia’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow announced her resignation Wednesday in a letter to Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Her resignation is effective March 9.

Balow did not provide a reason for her resignation in the letter, but did say she was grateful to serve in Youngkin’s administration and will continue to support the governor’s vision for education in Virginia.

The state education department had come under criticism for errors in its redrafting of K-12 history standards and for miscalculating how much education aid localities would get from the state.

“I am particularly proud of the fact that we advanced your agenda for education over the past two successful General Assembly sessions,” Balow said in the resignation letter.

“First, we passed and began implementing the Virginia Literacy Act, which I know will have a lasting impact on all students for years to come and be a model for other states," she said. "Second, we released the report ‘Our Commitment to Virginians,’ which is a roadmap for school and student success, and for parents to be their child’s most important teacher."

Balow moved to Virginia to join the Youngkin administration after serving as Wyoming's state school superintendent for two terms. She was appointed as Virginia’s 26th superintendent of public instruction on Jan. 15, 2022.

“My family and I have quickly developed roots in Virginia, and though we have family in the West, we will continue to reside here in the commonwealth for the foreseeable future,” she said in the letter.

Balow is a fifth-generation Wyoming native who graduated from the University of Wyoming. She taught in Wyoming classrooms for 10 years before serving as state superintendent of schools. She also served as president of the Board of Directors of the Council of Chief State School Officers from 2019-2020.

"I look forward to working with you and your team on a smooth transition," Balow said in the letter.

Before leaving Wyoming to join Youngkin’s administration, Balow supported a proposed Wyoming bill that would require K-12 schools to publish lists of instructional materials. According to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Balow endorsed the bill alongside its patrons, one of whom described the legislation as an effort to prevent “the indoctrination found in the critical race theory curriculum that has been pushed by the far-left and has found its way into some classrooms.”

Last November, as superintendent of public instruction in Virginia, Balow apologized that the new draft social studies standards referred to the ancestors of Virginia’s indigenous communities as “immigrants.” The state Board of Education voted unanimously to delay its first review of the standards.

The department also made a $201 million mistake in calculating state aid for K-12 school divisions after the General Assembly adopted a two-year budget and Youngkin signed it last June. The error failed to reflect a provision to hold localities harmless from the elimination of the state’s portion of the sales tax on groceries as part of a tax package supported by Youngkin and his predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam.

Last fall, Balow released new "model policies" to be adopted by all of the state’s 133 school districts in October. They required transgender students to use school bathrooms and locker rooms matching the sex they were assigned at birth. The policies also made it difficult for students to change their name and gender at school.