Terry McAuliffe to Virginia Homeschoolers: ‘You Can’t Have That Privilege’

[Valin]

National Review:

Matthew Hennessey

March 3, 2016

 

Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe is a defender of privilege. Earlier this week, the first-term Democrat vetoed a bill that would have let the commonwealth’s homeschooled students play sports and otherwise participate in extracurricular activities at their local public schools.

 

“Participation in athletic and academic competitions is a privilege for students who satisfy eligibility requirements,” McAuliffe said.

 

Curious. We hear a lot about privilege these days — mostly in the racial context. We don’t often hear big-shot Democrats referring to the free public-school system as a bastion of privilege. But homeschooling has a crazy-making effect on liberals — especially those whose campaigns are funded and staffed by the teachers’ unions, which despise homeschooling and, to an increasing extent, homeschoolers.

 

According to the Virginia Education Association, McAuliffe and his allies owe teachers “a big tip of the cap” for his 2013 win over Republican attorney general Ken Cuccinelli. “VEA members made a difference at the ballot box,” a post-election union press release claimed. “The dedicated efforts of Association volunteers across the Commonwealth went a long way toward putting some new friends of public education in office.”

 

(Snip)