[1] The department is headed by the Secretary of Education (currently Aimee Guidera), who is a member of the Virginia Governor's Cabinet, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction (currently Lisa Coons), a position that is also appointed by the Governor of Virginia.

[3] Communication by the agency is handled through news releases and memoranda from the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

[5] Virginia did not join the consortium of states to adopt the Common Core standards within the Commonwealth;[6] instead the Standards of Learning form the foundation for curriculum for all of Virginia's public schools.

Virginia provides Standards for certain subject areas that are not currently tested, including Technology, Computer Science, and World Languages.

[9] The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allocated $2.1 billion in pandemic relief money for Virginia public schools.