I had several friends who were valedictorians - at my school, you need a 4.0 unweighted GPA. They don’t consider your weighted GPA whatsoever.
However, one in particular had a significantly easier course load over high school than the rest. She only took 4 AP classes (2 of which were required by my school, AP Lang and AP Lit) and took a lot non-academic on level courses (ex. teachers assistant, on-level/beginning music/arts courses) whereas one of my other valedictorian friends took 11 AP classes. I’m sorry, but they are not equal. The first person I mentioned had a lower weighted GPA than I did, and I wasn’t even a valedictorian.