The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for 2022 were released Thursday. The news is devastating. The decline in reading and math scores will not be corrected for years. School closures during the coronavirus pandemic that caused students to stay home and learn online is to blame.

During a White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blamed Republicans for school closures. Sadly, I’ve come to expect very little in intelligent discourse coming from the press secretary but this was particularly bad. The pandemic began when a Republican president was in the White House but she blamed Republicans for school closures because none voted for the American Rescue Act. That huge slush fund of giveaways paid for by American taxpayers was a piece of Biden legislation that Republicans refused to support. Since there was funding for schools in that legislation, in KJP’s mind, Republicans kept schools closed by not voting for it. You can’t make this stuff up. She acts as though that was the only funding approved for schools. The fact is that other pandemic bail-outs included school funding and that money hadn’t all been spent. Why pile on more money if it was not needed?

Lots of people on social media remembered things differently. It wasn’t Republicans keeping schools closed and children at home, it was Democrats and especially teacher unions that were doing that. Trump called for schools to re-open, as he did businesses. He was all about having as little disruption to normal life as possible during the pandemic. He received criticism non-stop from Democrats for that attitude. They wanted everyone locked down at home and everything closed up.

Shared this yesterday for @PressSec b/c it's amazing how many people "forgot" Trump pushed for schools to open. I'm no crazy fan of Trump but let's stop rewriting history. And @tomselliott with even more receipts below 👇 https://t.co/b4gPgx9IPn pic.twitter.com/TdVY1cVKex

— Meghan Maureen (@Keggs719) September 2, 2022

Parents said all along that online learning was not going well for their children, especially the youngest children. Teacher unions thought they knew best and ignored parents. They continued to push to keep schools closed for over a year and the predictable happened. Children floundered. This is not because Republicans didn’t vote for the American Rescue Act. It’s because teacher unions took advantage of the situation and kept schools closed why they demanded perk after perk, all in the name of personal safety.

The blame is on the teacher unions and on Democrat politicians who are beholden to union money for their elections.

how it started how it's going pic.twitter.com/4h2tcgJwLL

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) September 1, 2022

The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal puts the blame squarely on Randi Weingarten, president of American Federation of Teachers. The op-ed notes that you’d think after the disastrous report was released by NAEP that there would be some reflection by those in charge, but no. The media was happy to publish talking points that blame the pandemic, not the actual human beings making the decisions on school closures.

National Center for Education Statistics Commissioner Peggy Carr had a grab-bag of excuses for the tragic learning loss: “School shootings, violence, and classroom disruptions are up, as are teacher and staff vacancies, absenteeism, cyberbullying, and students’ use of mental health services. This information provides some important context for the results we’re seeing from the long-term trend assessment.”

She missed the “classroom disruptions” of not being able to go to class at all.

American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten, who pushed shutdowns as long as she possibly could before parents revolted, tried to forget this ever happened with her statement on Twitter: “Thankfully after two years of disruption from a pandemic that killed more than 1 mil Americans, schools are already working on helping kids recover and thrive. This is a year to accelerate learning by rebuilding relationships, focusing on the basics.” But she and her union were the chief disrupters.

America’s teachers unions demanded that schools be kept shut even as they remained open in Europe. At the same time unions used the pandemic to extort money from Congress. Schools received some $190 billion in federal Covid relief to safely reopen and address learning losses, but schools stayed closed and much of the money still hasn’t been spent.

After the first months of Covid uncertainty, the school shutdowns had nothing to do with safety. You flunked the pandemic, Randi, and set back America’s children for years.

Amen.

KJP tries to rewrite history almost daily at the White House in order to slam Republicans and Trump. The internet is forever, though. She should go through Elliott’s thread and refresh her memory.