RICHMOND — Virginia lawmakers have passed a billthat prohibits schools from teaching that the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was a peaceful demonstration or that there was massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election, the first Democratic state to try to shape how such events are taught.
Democrats, who control the state House and Senate, expect Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) to sign the measure, which appears to be the first of its kind in the country, according to education experts. But it raises complicated questions about how far government should go in dictating how historical events are portrayed, particularly in an era when even basic facts are increasingly treated as matters of partisan debate.
“The White House webpage says January 6 was a peaceful protest, and people who instigated it were the police and National Guard,” said Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax), the sponsor of the bill, which passed the state Senate this week and the House of Delegates last month. “This is a preventative measure against a massive disinformation campaign on the part of the White House.”
Republicans argue that it’s state-sponsored mind control. “It tells us what we’re not allowed to say, and it tells us what we must say,” Del. Tom Garrett (R-Buckingham) said in a floor speech last month, calling the bill “evil” and comparing it to the tactics of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
Five people died during or in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and 140 police officers were assaulted as thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the complex to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden. The mob smashed windows, vandalized offices and nearly made it to then-Vice President Mike Pence, who faced death threats over his refusal to intervene in the election tally on Trump’s behalf. In August 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Trumpon four criminal counts related to the riot and his efforts to overturn the election.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has issued a blanket pardon to more than 1,500 people convicted of or charged with crimes related to Jan. 6. He has continued to claim the 2020 election was stolen despite courts repeatedly finding no evidence of massive fraud.
Spanberger spokesman Jack Bledsoe declined to comment on the Jan. 6 curriculum bill, saying only that “the governor will review all legislation that comes to her desk.”
Politics has long shaped what children learn in school. Between 2017 and 2024, dozens of states passed more than 120 laws and policies that reshaped instruction on race, racism, sexual orientation and gender identity — restricting or expanding what children are taught largely along political lines, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Yet few states have attempted to mandate the way teachers should handle Jan. 6, according to Donna Phillips, president and chief executive of the Center for Civic Education, a California-based nonprofit.
State lawmakers in New York are weighing legislation that would ensure the events of that day are taught in public schools. Last year, Oklahoma lawmakers tried to force schools to teach debunked claims about the 2020 election — an effort that was later put on hold by the state’s Supreme Court.
As teachers grapple with the best way to handle Jan. 6, they should educate students without pushing a certain point of view, Phillips said.
For instance, teachers can use the Constitution to help students understand how the president was able to pardon rioters. Teachers may assign news stories and ask students to compare how different outlets covered the event.
“Everything about that is civic education and serves students without a teacher having to show their own partisan point of view on it,” Phillips said. “They can provide students with that deep learning, so students can make those judgments for themselves.”
In Virginia, the debate is tinged with the irony of each side adopting the other’s tactics.
Then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) drew national attention four years ago by banning public K-12 schools from teaching “critical race theory” — even though it was not on the state’s curriculum — and setting up a tip line for parents to report teachers or principals who espoused “divisive” issues.
Republicans nationwide also supported Youngkin and the Trump administration’s efforts to root diversity, equity and inclusion programs and coursework out of public colleges and universities.
Now that Democrats have control and have adopted a similar playbook, Republicans accuse them of abusing their power.
“It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the Democrat majorities in the General Assembly are intent on mandating educational instruction that exclusively represents the views of the Democrat base and expressly prohibits different perspectives,” Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jeff Ryer said in a text message.
Other than Garrett’s speech, Republicans remained uncharacteristically quiet as the bill made its way through the legislature, though they voted against it at every turn. It passed on party-line votes.
The topic is politically dicey for Republicans in purple Virginia, which has rejected Trump three times and voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in state elections last year. But Ryer attributed the relative silence to resignation in the face of Democrats’ massive political advantage.
The difference, Democrats say, is that they are trying to protect facts, not ideology.
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen a concerted effort to change history books in one direction or another. What this does is ensure that when this part of our history is taught, it is using objective facts,” said Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke), chairman of the House Education Committee.
Helmer said he is particularly sensitive to the issue as the grandchild of Holocaust survivors and in a state that is still wrestling with the “Lost Cause” mythology of the Civil War.
“The first step toward authoritarianism is to rewrite the history we teach our children,” he said. “We [won’t] allow a new mythology to grow up around Donald Trump.”
The legislation permits any school board to adopt a program of instruction about Jan. 6 as long as it does not portray the event as a peaceful protest or “present as credible” any suggestion that there was extensive voter fraud that casts doubt on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Instead, the bill says, any curriculum should present Jan. 6 “as an unprecedented, violent attack on United States democratic institutions.”
The Virginia branch of the American Civil Liberties Union has taken no position on the bill and declined to comment. But the Virginia ACLU is currently part of a lawsuitagainst the Trump administration over changes to curriculums in K-12 schools run by the Defense Department that included removing materials related to race and gender identity from courses and libraries, calling the actions a violation of free-speech protections.
Helmer contends his bill is not about banning speech and instead is “establishing guidelines. All this does is put guardrails on to ensure public education in Virginia can’t lie to our kids.”
During an early subcommittee hearing on the bill, former House of Delegates candidate Sheila Furey (R) of Richmond rose to speak against the measure.
“Everyone in the commonwealth should pull their children from public education. This is explicit indoctrination,” Furey told the lawmakers, then repeated baseless claims espoused by Trump’s supporters, such as that undercover FBI agents coerced the Jan. 6 crowd and that jailed rioters were innocent. “They did nothing wrong,” she said.
The subcommittee gave Helmer a chance to respond. “I think the testimony we just saw,” he said, “demonstrates the need for this bill as individuals seek to rewrite history.”
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