Youngkin administration denies FOIA request from member of own task force
Governor’s office won’t release records to VMSDEP advocate

BY: GRAHAM MOOMAW - JULY 5, 2024 5:46 AM

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has called for more transparency as the state looks for new ways to handle the growing costs of a program that provides tuition-free college to spouses and children of military veterans killed or disabled as a result of their service. … However, Youngkin’s administration isn’t practicing full transparency itself.

Kayla Owen — a military spouse who’s also a member of the governor’s task force studying the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program — initially submitted a FOIA request to Youngkin’s office for a handful of officials’ internal communications involving the program. Her initial request didn’t give a timeframe, but she later narrowed it to records going back to June 2023. The administration said it wouldn’t release anything.

Youngkin’s office is withholding the documents, enough to fill two binders, under a sweeping Freedom of Information Act exemption for gubernatorial “working papers and correspondence.”

Those records would shed light on the Youngkin officials’ discussions about the program prior to VMSDEP being put on the chopping block. They could also offer clarity on what led the administration to draft a bill that included the same VMSDEP downsizing measures the governor now wants to undo.

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