Throughout 2021, Virginia parents from across the political spectrum thronged school board meetings to share their concerns about the way their children were being educated and how they were treated while at school. They were not trying to dictate policy; they were simply trying to be heard about the education and welfare of the most important people in the world: their children. Instead of taking their concerns seriously, school boards met them with derision or stony silence.

Then, in November, parents turned out in droves to be heard in another way, electing the candidate who promised to return their voice, an outcome that should have surprised exactly no one. As a lifelong Democrat who supported and voted for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, I am grateful that he kept his campaign promise to uphold the constitutionally guaranteed right of parents to determine how their children will be raised and educated — and that he did so in an even-handed manner that does not pass judgment on the specific values that parents wish to instill in their children.