RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — When Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed Executive Order One on his first day in office, his administration jump-started a wave of education reforms in the Commonwealth, including eliminating what he calls “divisive learning” and adding additional school choice options.

10 On Your Side spoke with Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera, as well as Atif Qarni, who served as former Gov. Ralph Northam’s secretary of education until he resigned in November 2021.

Some education experts say the governor’s executive order wasn’t needed to review curriculum and make changes, calling it a “political stunt.”

“You don’t need an executive order [to review curriculum],” Qarni told us. “You can just direct the secretary of education and the superintendent, who are appointed by the governor, to do this review. I think the executive order was done as kind of a political stunt.”

Current Secretary of Education Guidera says the executive order was part of the governor’s goal to make education his top priority.

“It matters,” said Guidera. “This was sending a priority that restoring excellence to education was a day-one priority, and it will be a day-425 priority and it will be a priority on the last day we are in office.”

One thing is for certain: There will be changes on the way to Virginia’s education system, but it won’t all be easy to set in motion.

They agree on the need for improvement in the public school system, but what they don’t agree on, however, is the approach.

“I think it was spreading a lot of misinformation on what’s actually happening in Virginia,” said Qarni. “So this attack on really teaching an honest and full, complete history is really problematic because history is full of divisive concepts.”

Guidera says the changes are made based on a push by her department and the governor’soOffice to make education more equitable for all learners.

“How do we build greater trust? Through having greater transparency about what’s being taught in schools, about how well we’re doing, to be honest about how well we are preparing all of our students and all of our learners for success in life,” said Guidera.

Some argue that proposed changes give parents more control over what their children learn, but others say the move to make these sweeping changes — particularly banning “divisive concepts” and what the administration refers to as “critical race theory” — highlight the “inexperience of the administration.”

“It’s really just unfortunate,” said Qarni. “I think this is a political tactic to really manufacture a crisis that doesn’t exist.”

Guidera says changes will continue in order to properly prepare every Virginia learner for success.

“This administration is full of folks who have spent their careers being ready for the jobs they are doing,” said Guidera. “What is critical to highlight is that we’re going to do this work by listening, and by being inclusive.”

10 On Your Side’s Jon Dowding and Julie Millet sat down with Anita Blanton to discuss their week-long series and how they gathered information for their reports.

Watch that conversation below: