Virginia Secretary of Education

Secretary of Education of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Flag of Virginia
Incumbent Jeffrey O. Smith since January 17, 2026 (2026-01-17)
Style	Mr. Secretary
Member of	Virginia Governor's Cabinet
Nominator	The governor
Appointer	The governor with advice and consent from the Senate and House
Inaugural holder	Earl J. Shiflet
Formation	April 8, 1972
Website	education.virginia.gov

The secretary of education is a member of the Virginia Governor's Cabinet. The office is currently held by Jeffrey O. Smith who serves under Governor Abigail Spanberger.

Duties

The Secretary oversees all education in Virginia, and oversees the following agencies and institutions: ^[1]

• Virginia Department of Education
• Virginia PTA
• Virginia Career Education Foundation
• The State Council for Higher Education in Virginia
• Virginia Early Childhood Foundation
• Virginia Community College System

List of secretaries of education

#	Name	Start date	End date	Governor(s)
1	Earl J. Shiflet	1972	1974		Linwood Holton
Acting	Carter O. Lowance	1974	1976		Mills Godwin
2	Robert R. Ramsey	1976	1978
3	J. Wade Gilley	1978	1982		John N. Dalton
4	John T. Casteen III	1982	1985		Chuck Robb
5	Donald Finley	1985	1986
		1986	1990		Gerald Baliles
6	James W. Dyke, Jr.	1990	1993		Douglas Wilder
7	Karen J. Petersen	1993	January 1994
8	Beverly Sgro	January 1994	January 1998		George Allen
9	Wilbert Bryant	January 1998	December 4, 2001		Jim Gilmore
10	Cheri Yecke	December 4, 2001	January 14, 2002
11	Belle Wheelan	January 14, 2002	July 22, 2005		Mark Warner
12	Peter A. Blake	July 22, 2005	January 14, 2006
13	Thomas R. Morris	January 14, 2006	January 16, 2010		Tim Kaine
14	Gerard Robinson	January 16, 2010	June 21, 2011		Bob McDonnell
15	Laura Fornash	August 1, 2011	November 2013
16	Javaid Siddiqi	November 2013	January 11, 2014
17	Anne Holton	January 11, 2014	July 25, 2016		Terry McAuliffe
18	Dietra Trent	July 26, 2016	January 13, 2018
19	Atif Qarni	January 13, 2018	November 24, 2021		Ralph Northam
20	Fran Bradford	November 24, 2021	January 15, 2022
21	Aimee Guidera	January 15, 2022	January 17, 2026		Glenn Youngkin
22	Jeffrey O. Smith	January 17, 2026	present		Abigail Spanberger

References

1. "Secretary of Education". www.education.virginia.gov. Retrieved November 8, 2025.