Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction

In Virginia, the Superintendent of Public Instruction is the chief executive of the Virginia Department of Education and also serves as the Secretary of the Virginia Board of Education. Lisa Coons was appointed Virginia's 27th Superintendent of Public Instruction by Governor Glenn Youngkin, effective March 22, 2023.^[1] The former state superintendent, Jillian Balow, resigned in March 2023.

Superintendent of Public Instruction of Virginia
Incumbent Lisa Coons since March 22, 2023
Term length	Coincident with the Governor
Website	State Website

Role

The Virginia Constitution^[2] states that the Superintendent be “an experienced educator.”^[3] The Superintendent of Public Instruction serves for a term coincident with the Governor making the appointment. The duties of the Superintendent of Public Instruction are addressed in Title 22.1, Chapter 3 of the Code of Virginia.^[4]

The duties of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction include:^[4]

1. Serve as secretary of the Board of Education;
2. Provide such assistance in his office as shall be necessary for the proper and uniform enforcement of the provisions of the school laws in cooperation with the local school authorities;
3. Prepare and furnish such forms for attendance officers, teachers and other school officials as are required by law;
4. (Expires July 1, 2025) At least annually, survey all local school divisions to identify critical shortages of (i) teachers and administrative personnel by geographic area, by school division, or by subject matter and (ii) school bus drivers by geographic area and local school division and report such critical shortages to each local school division and to the Virginia Retirement System.

List of Superintendents of Public Instruction

  Denotes acting/interim role before appointment or after resignation

List of Virginia superintendents of public instruction from 1870 – till date.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term	Governor
1		William Henry Ruffner (1824–1908)	March 5, 1870 – March 15, 1882[5]
2		Richard Ratcliffe Farr (1845–1892)	March 15, 1882 – March 15, 1886		William E. Cameron
3		John L. Buchanan	March 15, 1886 – January 1, 1890		Fitzhugh Lee
4		John E. Massey (1819–1901)	January 1, 1890 – March 15, 1898		Philip W. McKinney Charles Triplett O'Ferrall
5		Joseph W. Southall (1833–1909)	March 15, 1898 – February 1, 1906		James Hoge Tyler Andrew Jackson Montague
6		Joseph D. Eggleston II (1867–1953)	February 1, 1906 – January 1, 1912
7		Reaumur C. Stearnes (1866–1945)	January 1, 1912 – February 1, 1918
8		Harris Hart (1877–1962)	February 1, 1918 – January 1, 1931
9		Sidney B. Hall	January 1, 1931 – August 31, 1941
10		Dabney S. Lancaster (1889–1975)	September 1, 1941 – June 15, 1946
11		G. Tyler Miller (1902–1988)	June 15, 1946 – August 31, 1949[a]
–		Dowell J. Howard[b] (1897–1957)	September 1, 1949 – May 12, 1950
12			May 12, 1950 – February 23, 1957[c]
13		Davis Young Paschall (1911–2001)	March 13, 1957 – August 15, 1960
14		Woodrow W. Wilkerson (1914–1986)	August 16, 1960 – 1975[5]
15		Walter Eugene Campbell (1916–1980)	1975 – 1979[6]
16		Spear John Davis (1928–2009)	1979 – 1990[7]
17		Joseph A. Spagnolo (1943–2020)	1990 – 1994		Douglas Wilder
18		William C. Bosher Jr. (1946–2014)	1994 – 1996[8]
19		Richard T. LaPointe	1996 – 1998
20		Paul D. Stapleton	1998 – 1999[9]
21		Jo Lynne DeMary	2000 – 2006[10]
–		Patricia I. Wright	2006 – 2006[11]
22		Billy K. Cannaday Jr.	2006 – 2008[11]
23		Patricia I. Wright	2008 – 2014
24		Steven R. Staples	2014 – 2018[12]		Terry McAuliffe
–		Steven M. Constantino	2018 – 2018
25		James F. Lane	2018[13] – 2022[14]		Ralph Northam
26		Jillian Balow (born 1970)	2022 – 2023		Glenn Youngkin
27		Lisa Coons	March 22, 2023 – Incumbent

Notes

1. Resigned
2. Served as acting superintendent until his appointment on May 12, 1950
3. Died in office