It was reported earlier today by the Daily Wire that while Glenn Youngkin rode the Critical Race Theory (CRT) backlash wave to the Virginia governorship, a Daily Wire review of his new education nominee’s background raises questions about the Republican’s commitment to eradicating politics from the classroom. Aimee Rogstad Guidera, who was nominated by Youngkin on Monday to be secretary of education, is an education consultant — the president of Guidera Strategy. According to public records, in recent years Guidera has owned a home and operated her business out of the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. The area includes some of America’s most “woke” school districts, and many radical ideas that have recently taken foot across the country originally germinated there.
She previously founded a group called Data Quality Campaign (DQC). Guidera led the group for more than a decade, until 2018. Yet there is evidence that DQC, which has taken in about $26 million from the left-leaning Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as first reported by the Daily Caller, may be pushing the equity agenda the Republican has opposed.
There is a page on DQC’s website dedicated to the idea of “Data for Equity.” The organization seeks to “collect, disaggregate, and share data above and beyond reported mandates” and “engage diverse and representative populations” in order to “ensure that individuals have access to equitable opportunities that lead to success in education and beyond.”
More from DQC:
For years, Black students and other students of color, rural students, non-traditional students, and others have faced inequities in their treatment and opportunities to learn. The first step in addressing these inequities is data. Data should be used as a tool to understand how to meet the needs of people as they navigate through education and into the workforce. The only way that policymakers and community advocates can identify areas for improvement and who needs the most support is with data that is linked across the P–20W system, broken down by student group—or disaggregated—and timely. It is not enough to collect education and workforce data—it must be used to inform decision-making that fosters equitable education outcomes and life-sustaining careers.”
Devin O’Malley, a spokesperson for Youngkin, told the Daily Wire that the governor-elect stands by his pick.
“I can assure you that as a member of Governor elect Youngkin’s cabinet, she understands that parents matter and that we have to raise standards and restore excellence in education,” O’Malley told The Daily Wire. “A major part of the policy platform that Virginians mandated was removing CRT and political agendas from our schools. Gov-elect Youngkin wouldn’t have selected Aimee if he didn’t have the full faith and confidence in her resolve to do that.”
