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NYT Warns: GOP Could 'Seize' on Record Drop in Student Test Scores During COVID-19 Pandemic

How dare Republicans use 'devastating' results as 'political fodder' to 'relitigate the debate over how long schools should have stayed closed'

October 24, 2022

What happened: The Department of Education on Monday reported a significant drop in math and reading scores for U.S. students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The math results were "the steepest declines ever recorded" by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation's Report Card.

What they're saying: In addition to the obvious harm students suffered—a direct result of pandemic school closures driven by teachers' unions and Democratic politicians—the New York Times found another reason why the shocking test scores are bad for the country: They "could be seized as political fodder—just before the midterms—to re-litigate the debate over how long schools should have stayed closed, an issue that galvanized many parents and teachers."

How dare they!

Why it matters: According to the mainstream media, Republican politicians are always nefariously "seizing" or "pouncing" on news that reflects poorly on Democrats. A normal person might think if anything deserves to be "political fodder" in the final stretch of a midterm election, it's the fact that a generation of American children had their educations severely stunted as a result of the pandemic and policy choices that kept classrooms closed for the better part of two years.

Who's to blame? An October 2020 study found that school districts with strong teachers' unions were more likely to recommend that schools remain closed, even though scientific evidence found that reopening schools was safe and unlikely to result in "superspreader" events.

Last month, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blamed Donald Trump and other GOP politicians for keeping schools closed. Reopening the schools, she said, "was the work of Democrats in spite of Republicans."

Is that true? No, it's not. Republicans who called for schools to reopen in 2020 were repeatedly denounced (without evidence) by Democratic-backed union activists for endangering the lives of teachers and students. Some schools in heavily Democratic districts remained closed until early 2021 even after teachers were given priority access to the vaccine. As recently as January 2022, teachers in Chicago and elsewhere went on strike after school districts voted to reopen schools.

What do Republicans want? More options for parents. Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election by vowing to keep schools open and give parents more control over their children's education. McAuliffe, by contrast, campaigned with teachers' union president Randi Weingarten and said he didn't think "parents should be telling schools what they should teach."

What do Democrats want? More money. The Biden administration allocated $123 billion—about $2,400 per student—in emergency funding for public schools in 2021. According to the New York Times, that's not nearly enough to address the learning loss students suffered during the pandemic.

In response to GOP efforts to ensure that children aren't "trapped in failing schools," Democrat Katie Hobbs, the gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, summarized her party's stance on education in inspiring fashion.

"There are always going to be kids who are stuck in these schools," Hobbs said, adding that more money is the only solution.