The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board outlined the damage Gretchen Whitmer has done to the Michigan education system, particularly for minority children, as a result of her extreme and aggressive school closure policies.
Just this week, Whitmer stood on the debate stage and lied to parents and kids that Michigan schools were only closed down for three months. She continues to tout "record education funding," but the latest test scores show how Whitmer has actually done more to damage education achievement outcomes versus help. The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress reveals a massive drop in Michigan's fourth and eighth grade test scores, especially among minority students.
"Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was one of the country’s most aggressive pandemic lockdown enforcers, and Republican challenger Tudor Dixon is making it a campaign issue. School closures were a particular disaster, as national test scores show how much closed classrooms damaged learning.
"Ms. Whitmer says children were out of classrooms only three months, but she may be suffering from her own math deficit. Many of the districts that stayed closed the longest, including Ann Arbor, Lansing, Kalamazoo and Detroit, have large minority populations. During the 2020-2021 school year, Ann Arbor offered in-person instruction a mere 11.4% of the time, according to data-analytics company Burbio, which tracked school shutdowns. Lansing was closed more than Ann Arbor, and in Kalamazoo students learned via Zoom all year.
"Many states closed schools out of caution at the beginning of the pandemic and test scores fell nationwide. But Michigan schools didn’t reopen for longer than many places, and Gov. Whitmer opposed a plan that would have made it a priority to open schools for K-5 students."
Original source can be found here.
