LANSING, MI – Today, the Michigan Freedom Fund released a new ad to expose Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s (D-MEA) false claim that “kids were only out” of classrooms “for three months.” The ad recalls Michigan’s extended school closures that occurred while the governor refused to follow her own guidance, and the disastrous impact prolonged remote instruction had on students.
In addition to the governor’s initial order closing schools on March 12, 2020, the Whitmer admin closed schools again in November 2020 and encouraged schools to go remote again in April 2021. At the beginning of 2022, nearly 100,000 students in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and other large school districts were again forced into remote instruction.
“Gretchen Whitmer is trying to gaslight parents, but they’ve had a front row seat to the disastrous consequences of her prolonged school closures while the governor ignored her own orders, and they know their kids were locked out of classrooms a lot longer than three months,” said Michigan Freedom Fund executive director Tori Sachs. “Parents who watched their kids struggle emotionally and academically begged Whitmer to reopen schools, but the governor refused, putting the teachers unions and bureaucrats ahead of students. It’s time for Whitmer to stop gaslighting parents once and for all.”
The Washington Free Beacon also published a timeline that dissects Whitmer’s “three month” claim:
“Kids were out for three months,” the Democrat claimed, seemingly referring to her initial orders that shuttered schools in 2020 from mid-March to early June. Months later, however, Whitmer’s health department again suspended in-person high school classes for a three-week period starting November 15, 2020. And in April 2021, Whitmer urged schools to shut down for another two weeks, citing “alarming” virus numbers.
Examples of Whitmer’s “Rules for Thee but Not for Me” hypocrisy highlighted in the ad include: her husband’s attempt to pull rank to get his boat in the water ahead of Memorial Day, Whitmer ignoring social distancing to march with “Defund the Police” protesters, traveling to Delaware to audition to be Joe Biden’s Vice President, traveling to Washington, DC for Biden’s inauguration, traveling to Florida while instructing people not to travel to Florida for spring break, and refusing to follow her own restrictions at an East Lansing bar.
Earlier this week, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed the real consequences of Whitmer’s school shutdowns. Michigan’s results show dramatic drops in students’ math and reading levels. Fourth grade reading fell to a 30-year low, and Michigan is now ranked 40th in the nation for reading and 35th in the nation for math.
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.
