Moderator Chuck Stokes of WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) challenged Whitmer directly on declining performance on standardized tests, saying the buck stops with her as governor and she has had four years to move the needle but has not done it.
“We’ve also had some historic challenges over the last four years,” Whitmer countered, referencing the COVID-19 pandemic that began in March 2020, adding: “Kids were out for three months.” For those who say children were kept out of classrooms for too long, “as a mom, all I was thinking about was saving the lives of our kids.”
Dixon said new national test results released this week show Michigan is a “bottom state” for education and “we are really doing horribly in reading and math.” She scoffed at Whitmer’s statement that students were only out of classrooms for three months, saying some students had not even returned to classrooms this year.
Whitmer ordered schools closed in March 2020 and eventually extended that closure through the end of that school semester. She again ordered high schools closed for an additional three weeks in November 2020 during a spike in COVID-19 cases. During much of the pandemic, returning to in-person instruction was a decision left up to local school districts, under legislation agreed to by Whitmer and the Republican-controlled Legislature, so many students were out of classrooms for much longer.
[DS-Whitmer is one of the original COVID fascists, and as the consequences becomes clear she is paying a price. A race to watch]
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