RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The effective date of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s proposed transgender student policy has been delayed for at least 30 days following the closure of public comment on Wednesday night.
Responses on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website topped 66,000 before public comment ended at 11:59pm on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
The proposed revisions would require written parental permission for pronoun and name changes in schools. Parents would also be given a chance to object to gender-related counseling.
State Superintendent Jillian Balow previously said the Virginia Department of Education would go through responses and search for themes. Balow also said comments alleging violations of state law or regulations would trigger a 30-day delay in the effective date of the guidance document.
On Thursday, Oct. 27, notice was officially posted for a 30-day delay on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website.
Nov. 26 is now the earliest effective date for the new policies, but no specific release date for the final policy document has been announced.
During this delay period, the agency is required to respond to these comments either through mail or online, depending on how the comment was received.
“The department’s timeline for finalizing the guidance and model policies document will be determined by the law and the amount of time required to review comments submitted by the public and make any edits to the document warranted by the comments,” Charles B. Pyle, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Education told 8News in an email. “The guidance and model policies won’t become final until the review is complete and a final version is approved by the state superintendent.”
