REAL CLEAR WIRE/ Neeraja Deshpande-
The National Educators Association, the largest teachers union in America, is “fired up” for Kamala Harris’s VP nominee, Tim Walz. “Gov. Walz is known as the ‘Education Governor,’” wrote NEA President Becky Pringle, “because he has been an unwavering champion for public school students and educators, and an ally for working families and unions. As a high school teacher and NEA member, Walz is committed to uplifting our public schools.”
The NEA’s endorsement should be worrisome for Americans who are actually concerned about the state of education in this country: for years, the NEA has put radical politics above children.
Unfortunately, so has Tim Walz.
During the pandemic, Walz, in lockstep with teachers unions, kept schools closed for extended periods of time. “As Governor, Tim Walz chose teachers union money over putting students first and the results have been disastrous,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) to the New York Post.
Indeed, when Walz took office as governor of Minnesota in 2019, 59.2% of Minnesota students were proficient in reading and 55% were proficient in math. Four years later, in 2023, those numbers fell to 49.9% and 45.5%, respectively. Over that same time period under Walz, Minnesota’s chronic absenteeism rate more than doubled, from 14% to 30%. In 2018, before Walz took office, Minnesota’s schools were ranked 5th in the nation; five years later, in 2024, they are ranked 17th. With such disastrous numbers, one would expect Walz to focus on getting back to the basics: reading, writing, arithmetic.
But, with the exception of passing an act in 2023 to mandate evidence-based reading methods in schools, Walz’s education agenda has had little to do with actual education. Continue reading…
