Youngkin Picks Consultant As Virginia's Next Education Secretary

VIRGINIA — Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin has selected Aimee Rogstad Guidera, a Minneapolis, Minnesota, area resident, to serve as his Secretary of Education, his transition office announced Monday.

Guidera, president of consulting firm Guidera Strategy, previously served as chief executive of the Data Quality Campaign, an organization that advocated for the use of education data to increase student achievement.

Guidera will oversee “a curriculum that prepares Virginia’s children for a dynamic future and removes politics from the classroom,” Youngkin said in a statement Monday.

“Her leadership, intellect, and talent will be tremendous assets as we ensure Virginia kids are the best prepared in the country to succeed, and that they are taught how to think, not what to think,” he said.

Youngkin made schools a major part of his campaign for governor, siding with conservative groups that battled school boards over classroom curriculums that included focusing on the nation’s long history of racism.

Last month, Virginia Education Secretary Atif Qarni left his position to become managing director of Temple University's Hope Center for College, Community and Justice in Philadelphia. Gov. Ralph Northam appointed deputy secretary Fran Bradford as his new secretary of education for the remainder of his term as governor.

Prior to serving as Virginia’s Secretary of Education, Qarni taught at Beville Middle School in Prince William County for 10 years.

Guidera previously served as the director of the D.C. office of the National Center for Educational Achievement. She started her career working on education policy at the National Governors Association.

A Maryland native, Guidera moved with her family to Virginia in 1995 where her daughter attended Fairfax County Public Schools.

Guidera is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. She also serves on the board of directors of the Institute for Educational Leadership; Policy Innovators in Education Network; the Friends of the Hennepin County, Minnesota, Library; Conservative Leaders for Education; and on the advisory board for the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard.