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 3th 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.
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.