LANSING, MI – One week after student test scores revealed the devastating consequences of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s (D-MEA) education policies, the Michigan Freedom Fund condemned Whitmer for her latest desperate attempt to rewrite history.
“Governor Whitmer (D-MEA) is delusional if she thinks families will forget that she closed schools, vetoed reading scholarships and funding for tutors, textbooks and more, resulting in record declines in students’ math and reading scores and increased mental health issues,” said Michigan Freedom Fund executive director Tori Sachs. “Whitmer’s policies put teachers unions and school bureaucrats before our kids while her Democrat party declared parents shouldn’t have input in learning. It’s time to put parents back in charge by giving families education freedom.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, Whitmer unilaterally closed schools to in-person education, and closed schools again in November 2020. At the beginning of 2022, Whitmer allowed school bureaucrats to lock nearly 100,000 students out of their classrooms, despite billions in federal COVID relief meant to keep school doors open. Earlier this year, the Michigan Democrats claimed that parents shouldn’t have a say in their students’ education.
No students were safe from Whitmer’s partisan veto pen:
- In 2019, Whitmer used line-item vetoes to strike $35 million in funding for public charter schools and $15 million for summer reading programs aimed to help third graders catch up.
- Whitmer also vetoed $1.47 million in grants for autism navigators.
- In July 2021, Whitmer vetoed $1,000 reading scholarships for elementary students.
- In November 2021, Whitmer vetoed education opportunity scholarships that families could have used for tutoring, transportation, text books, mental health assistance and more.
The Biden administration blamed lockdowns like the ones implemented by Governor Whitmer for a sharp decline in student math and reading scores. Michigan’s M-STEP test scores revealed that the number of third grade students eligible for retention increased from 4.8% to 5.8%.
The Michigan Freedom Fund works to advance conservative ideas, hold our government accountable to taxpayers, and protect Freedom, opportunity, and workers’ Constitutional rights. For more information, please visit MichiganFreedomFund.com.
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