Legal group accuses Virginia public school district of felony after hosting Dem political rally for free

A nonpartisan, public-interest litigation firm is calling for a criminal investigation into Portsmouth Public Schools (PPS) after the school division allegedly used taxpayer dollars to host a political rally for Democratic candidate for Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger in August.

The Liberty Justice Center is calling for an official investigation after Spanberger, who was elected governor of Virginia last week, held the rally at I.C. Norcom High School free of charge, with controversial attorney general candidate, now AG-elect, Jay Jones in attendance.

“This is just a gross misuse of public money and resources,” Brendan Philbin, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, told Fox News Digital. “The time of teachers and the maintenance staff and everyone should be, at this point, getting ready to start the new school year. But instead, they’re using all this time and resources to host this gratuitous political event.”

“If an official causes public assets, resources or labor to be used for a cause other than what they are intended for, and the value of that is over $1,000, then it’s a felony in Virginia,” Philbin added.

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The group alleges that PPS is in violation of Virginia law 18.2-112.1(B), which specifies the “misuse of public assets.”

The law reads: “‘public assets’ means personal property belonging to or paid for by the Commonwealth, or any city, town, county, or any other political subdivision, or the labor of any person other than the accused that is paid for by the Commonwealth, or any city, town, county, or any other political subdivision.”

“Any full-time officer, agent, or employee of the Commonwealth, or of any city, town, county, or any other political subdivision who, without lawful authorization, uses or permits the use of public assets for private or personal purposes unrelated to the duties and office of the accused or any other legitimate government interest when the value of such use exceeds $1,000 in any 12-month period, is guilty of a Class 4 felony,” according to Virginia law.

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The Liberty Justice Center alleges that the value of services rendered to the campaign was over $1,000 due to the cost to rent several rooms in the school, teachers that were on the clock in attendance, and the labor and time of the support staff and groundskeeping to enhance public grounds.

At one point in the email exchange between the campaign and the public school, the principal of I.C. Norcom, Teesha Sanders, offered up classrooms to the campaign should the soundproofing of the original space be an issue or if more space was needed for the political event.

The event was held on the first day of the teacher-work period, a time typically reserved for teachers to prepare for the upcoming school year. Teachers were required to be at work that day in their official capacity as summer vacation had officially ended.

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The Liberty Justice Center also alleges that Spanberger ethically violated 24.2-947.4(B)(2) of Virginia law by failing to report the “in-kind” contribution by the school board.

“For each contributor who has contributed an aggregate of more than $100, including cash and in-kind contributions, as of the ending date of the report, the campaign committee shall itemize each contributor on the report and list the following information,” the law reads.

The misuse of public funds was originally uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Restoration News, where the school division contested to the outlet that the rally was a closed event and fees were waived because the building was already open.

However, per emails obtained through the FOIA, a campaign official for Spanberger created an invitation link that was publicly available on the gubernatorial official’s website which was sent to Dr. Jerry L. Simmons, the chief operations officer for PPS, by a campaign official who told him to “share this RSVP invite link with any teachers who are interested.”

A spokesperson for Portsmouth Public Schools explained to Fox News Digital that the school was unaware the event was a campaign event, instead believing it was an educational event. Once the principal saw it was a campaign event, she told staff not to attend. The school district’s administration is now reviewing its process and procedures to ensure it is in better alignment with Board policies and state code.

The school district also explained that the event was not open to the public and did not charge guests. The school buildings were already open and there were no facility or custodial fees, a PPS spokesperson said. Security was provided by the Spanberger campaign. 

The Liberty Justice Center wrote to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Portsmouth Commonwealth’s attorney Stephanie Morales, but has yet to hear back from the parties on whether an investigation is taking place or whether the state’s top legal enforcers are looking into their calls for a criminal investigation.

Fox News Digital reached out to Miyares, Portsmouth Public Schools, I.C. Norcom High School, Simmons and the Portsmouth Commonwealth attorney but did not receive responses in time for publication.

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X @MizellPreston.