A senior-level Virginia Department of Education official has left her post to serve as Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s special adviser to the CEO of the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.
Although she has no experience with cannabis policy, the Youngkin administration says Elizabeth Schultz is uniquely positioned to serve under the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, Terrance Cole.
On Thursday, Youngkin press secretary Christian Martinez said in a statement: “Elizabeth Schultz’s extensive background in education makes her uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role in informing and educating Virginians about the dangers of cannabis, specifically our youth. Her experience in developing educational programs will be beneficial to effectively communicate the potential risks and safety concerns associated with cannabis use.”
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Also on Thursday, the Youngkin administration announced that Em Cooper has been named as the new deputy superintendent of teaching and learning. Cooper most recently served as deputy assistant superintendent of educator development for the Louisiana Department of Education, which has more than 170 school systems. Cooper succeeds Marcey Sorenson, who was named acting superintendent of the La Joya Independent School District in La Joya, Texas.
The Cannabis Control Authority is the principal source of Virginia government expertise on cannabis. Formed in 2021 by the Virginia legislature, the CCA has broad authority to develop, issue and enforce rules about the existing medical cannabis market and a prospective adult-use retail market.
Youngkin has consistently said he is not interested in setting up a retail market for cannabis. In one of his record 153 vetoes this year, he rejected legislation that would have allowed the recreational retail sales of marijuana to begin next year, a Democratic priority.
“The proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety,” Youngkin said in a March 28 statement announcing the veto.
12th top official to leave
Schultz’s last day as the state education department’s assistant state superintendent of public instruction was April 9. She started at the agency in January 2022 under then-State Superintendent Jillian Balow.
Schultz is the 12th top-level official to leave the Virginia Department of Education since State Superintendent Lisa Coons became the agency’s leader in April 2023. Over the past year, two assistant superintendents and two deputy superintendents have left the VDOE, along with nine directors, who act as heads of departments within the agency.
“We’ve had a number of great leaders who made the decision to retire after giving many decades of service to the Commonwealth’s students,” said Todd Reid, a spokesman for the Department of Education. “We’re proud to continue the important work they’ve done and are thankful for the time and talents they have given.”
In a farewell email to her colleagues, Schultz wrote: “I wish Dr. Coons the best in her continued leadership of the agency and pray for the blessing of success in your work, along with personal and professional well-being for each of you.”
Schultz previously worked for the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration and served as a Fairfax County School Board member.
As a School Board member, Schultz opposed including gender identity and sexual orientation in the district’s nondiscrimination policies and resisted the decision to rename a high school named for a Confederate general.
In 2021, she worked as a senior fellow at Parents Defending Education, a conservative nonprofit that says it works to reclaim schools from activists who impose ideologically driven curriculum that emphasizes race, sexual orientation and gender.
The Cannabis Control Authority is included in the state budget under the executive branch. But the legislature’s Democrat-led budget committees, vexed by what they consider political interference by the Youngkin administration in management of critical state government operations, proposed to make the CCA a state agency that is fully independent under the budget.