By BOB GRIFFIN
Vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz is praised by the Left for providing breakfasts and lunches for Minnesota school children, regardless of their income level.
Maybe those resources going to pay for free lunches and breakfast for rich kids would have been better used to teach Minnesota kids to read.
The year before Walz was elected governor, reading scores in Minnesota were not great. But under his watch, they’ve gotten much, much worse.
Between 2017 and 2022, Minnesota dropped from 33rd in to 46th in the country in 4th grade reading for kids who qualified for free or reduced lunch, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Nation Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP test.
Upper/middle-income Minnesota 4th graders fared no better — dropping from 23rd to 40th in the U.S.
The trend also impacted Minnesota’s middle schoolers. Low-income Minnesota 8th graders dropped from 39th to 46th, while the upper/middle-income students dropped from 17th to 33rd. Under Gov. Walz’s watch, the average Minnesota student saw a scale score decline more than double the U.S. average “Covid learning-loss” assessments in reading.
According to a recent Rutgers study, Minnesota has one of the most adequately funded school systems in the country, contributing 3.65% of the state GDP to K-12 education.
In 2022, Florida spent only 2.78% of their state GDP on K-12 (lowest in the nation) and they ranked 1st in in low-income 4th grade NAEP reading and 3rd for upper/middle income kids. Florida 8th graders ranked 5th and 20th respectively.
Free breakfast and lunches for all Minnesota school for kids who don’t already qualify for federally subsidized school meals is costing Minnesota taxpayers and additional $480 million over the next two years. Those resources could provide a lot of reading support to help stem the implosion of Minnesota reading scores.
The bottom line is: It’s a matter of prioritization of scarce resources. Giving rich kids free food might seem like a nice gesture. But early childhood literacy has to be a higher priority.
Bob Griffin is a former member of the Alaska Board of Education and an education advocate.
I figured out a long time ago that 7 out of 10 children go to bed hungry because 7 out of 10 children suffer from childhood obesity.
Your ironic humor exposes doublespeak in our cultural. Thank you for that. However, it is a fact that obese people are mal-nourished. In fact, they are under-nourished. Everyone craves a proper, wholesome diet which includes all natural, nutritional food along with exercise and peace of mind. When food lacks proper nourishment, people feel unsatisfied by it. The natural response is to eat more because the body is still craving the nutrients lacking in the food. Consequently, people gorge on food that never satisfies their nutritional needs It just goes to fat. With a proper diet we are satisfied with a reasonable amount with no residual cravings or urge to gorge
The same with exercise. As people become obsessed with TV or internet they become sedentary. Then, they add the stress of trying to find meaning in a fast-paced world that is turning its back on the truth. This combination of lifestyle choices results in an epidemic of obesity.
One last point: the “Truth” is a person. If you seek Him, he will reveal Himself to you.
Your ironic humor exposes doublespeak in our culture. Thank you for that. However, it is a fact that obese people are mal-nourished. In fact, they are under-nourished. Everyone craves a proper, wholesome diet which includes all natural, nutritional food along with exercise and peace of mind. When food lacks proper nourishment, people feel unsatisfied by it. The natural response is to eat more because the body is still craving the nutrients lacking in the food. Consequently, people gorge on food that never satisfies their nutritional needs. It just goes to fat. With a proper diet we are satisfied with a reasonable amount with no residual cravings or urge to gorge
The same with exercise. As people become obsessed with TV or internet they become sedentary. Then, they add the stress of trying to find meaning in a fast-paced world that is turning its back on the truth. This combination of lifestyle choices results in an epidemic of obesity.
One last point: the “Truth” is a person. If you seek Him, he will reveal Himself to you.
You mean I can crave organic kale and moosetracks ice cream at the same time?
Just read my last reply. The only way to edit on this primitive software is to re-post with corrections.
When bodies are stacked like cord wood it’s easy to see who’s “undernourished “.
We are deceived, therefore unable to see we are malnourished. An obese person is compensating for his undernourishment by gorging on unhealthy food. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”–Hosea-6:4
Yea Walz is a hard left progressive with zero moral center and less character.
And Alaska is cold and dark in winter.
Stop focusing on the undercard. Let Vance deal with him. The issue is Harris.
Stop getting distracted by her stupid side show. He only gets there if she wins.
It certainly is an important element of the framework by which we judge the top of the ticket— the judgement the presidential candidates display with their choice of #2.
If Harris were bright at all, she would have gone with Shapiro.
Walz is just an additional millstone around Harris neck, along with her role are Boarder Czar, soft-on-crime CA AG, her economic illiteracy, her inability to construct a coherent sentence without a teleprompter — I could go on for hours.
Millstone? I don’t think so. Maybe being exposed to humor, joy and hope is unnerving after a diet of hate, lawlessness, lies, meanness and chaos.
I suspect Shapiro and the astronaut declined her offer. Who would want that job? Based on her reputation for blaming subordinates for her mistakes (accompanied by F-bombs and insults), it’s no wonder 90% of her staff quit. Walz will be sorry he took the job.
I and the Avenger are in complete agreement.
It is very important to process educational test data properly when comparing states. Many states do not publish the data the same as others. As an example, a higher test score on a 4th-grade test may indicate lower proficiency than a lower score on a 5th-grade test. Schooldigger.com “processes” test results into a “z-score” … which is the raw proficiency score, minus the mean score of the peers, divided by the standard deviation of all peer scores in the state. In other words, it takes care and effort to rank-order states.
Another state ranking method is that of satisfaction (feelings) of parents, students and teachers with their schools. In this data set, Alaska ranks 40th while Minnesota ranks 10th. Think about this ranking; it tells us how people “feel” about their schools (including how teachers feel). What is this measurement worth?
If we look at worldpopulationreview.com/stateranking we see the “overall ranking” (which includes both academic and non-academic factors) ranks Alaska-35 and Minnesota-15. Under “Student Success,” whatever that means, its Alaska-30 and Minnesota-15.
It seems, under most metrics, Minnesota out-ranks Alaska even though Alaska doesn’t “give rich kids free food.” Therefore, the author’s premise regarding free food for rich kids is likely a correlation fallacy. There is something wrong in Alaska education; but facts indicate the primary problems do not include whether free food is provided.
The stats in this article are the based on the NAEP. It’s the same measurement in every state, conducted by the US Department of Education
I’ve pointed to the defects in Alaska’s education system for many years. Alaska has been near the bottom for a couple decades.
The good news is that Alaska is thankfully trending in the right direction l, with some of the lowest learning loss through Covid.
Minnesota has been rapidly trending in the wrong direction.
As recently as 2013, Minnesota ranked 7th in the US in NAEP reading scores for kids who qualify for free or reduced lunch. In the most recent NAEP figures they ranked 46th, with a scale score decline equivalent to a
of two school years in achievement.
Wayne C, BTW, in Alaska schools even the wealthy students are entitled to a free/reduced lunch per federal guidelines. If a school has 40% or more of free/reduced lunch students, then ALL students are considered to be entitled to those lunches. This was put into place about 10 years ago so that school administrators didn’t have to do the “horrible” paperwork! So, yes the student with millionaire parents also gets the “free” lunch which really is never “free”.
David Boyle, Thank you for clarifying. Your point out about free lunches basically obliterates the entire theme of the article above. The title of the article points directly to the “free lunch” factor as its principal point.
“What is this measurement worth?” “whatever that means” “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”–Hosea-6:4
Thanks Wayne, for putting your posts in context.
Walz is an abject derelict, and probably a closet pedophile, by his looks alone. Something very creepy about this stranger from MN.
How would the author explain the superior Minnesota ACT scores in 2024 vs. Florida? Reference – ontocollege.com August 5, 2024. If you look at these scores you could just about match it up with the electoral college map for blue vs. red states. What would that imply?
Huge difference in participation rates between Florida and Minnesota. In Florida about 90% of kids take the SAT. Minnesota the vast majority take the ACT. Hard to compare because the enrichment of the samples is so different. The brightest kids in Florida are taking the SAT.
Easier to compare is the percentage of kids who leave high school with at least on AP test with a 3 or higher as a quality measure.
Florida is 3rd in the nation in the percentage of kids who achieve at least one 3 or higher on an AP test at 29%. Minnesota is below the US average of 21% with a little less that 20% of their kids meeting that benchmark
https://reports.collegeboard.org/ap-program-results/class-of-2022
An uneducated population is an easily controlled population.
Jay, you are spot on!!!
Society has an obesity epidemic and it is being passed on to the children.
Kids are easier to indoctrinate by the communists if they can’t read. They don’t want educated kids they want useful idiots who expect free handouts.
PS, in the above comment, rank-15 is higher than rank-30. Rank-1 is highest; rank-50 is lowest among states.
Print the lessons on the milk cartons. Or at least print a list of resources for gender affirming care.
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