As we debate the future of the Department of Education, we get news that U.S. children are not being educated. Something is wrong, because this department has a budget of $90 billion. How are we spending those billions? Not well as we see in this report:

America’s children have continued to lose ground on reading skills in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and have made little improvement in math, according to the latest results of an exam known as the nation’s report card.

The findings are yet another setback for U.S. schools and reflect the myriad challenges that have upended education, from pandemic school closures to a youth mental health crisis and high rates of chronic absenteeism. The national exam results also show growing inequality: While the highest-performing students have started to regain lost ground, lower-performing students are falling further behind.

Given every two years to a sample of America’s children, the National Assessment of Educational Progress is considered one of the best gauges of the academic progress of the U.S. school system. The most recent exam was administered in early 2024 in every state, testing fourth- and eighth-grade students on math and reading.

“The news is not good,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees the assessment. “We are not seeing the progress we need to regain the ground our students lost during the pandemic.”

The news is not good. Don't be surprised if more parents want to teach kids at home or call their state legislators to implement some form of school choice.

Honestly, every leader of the Education Department and Teachers unions should admit that they have failed miserably. Maybe too much indoctrination of our kids and not enough spelling and basic math exercises. 

My guess is that the teachers unions will say today that they need more money. Yes, it's always money with these people.

How are we helping these kids by graduating them not reading at their grade level? We are condemning them to a lousy future of bad jobs. 

I remember when President Carter created the Department of Education. It made no sense to me because education is a local matter to be run by parents and school boards. However, I never thought that I'd be reading about educational failure of this type. Federal control over education has failed and it's time to buy out these employees and shut down the building.

We cannot overlook two other issues. First, shutting down schools over COVID was a disaster. Second, the breakdown of the family unit or absence of fathers is hurting our young people immensely.

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Image: David Lisbona