The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently published the “Return 2 Learn Tracker,” which chronicles the devastating impact the nation’s COVID-19 restrictions and how the government’s response shrunk enrollment numbers for school districts across the country.
Nationwide, 1.2 million students left public schools in 2020-2021, and 1.3 million students have left public schools since the pandemic began. Here in Pennsylvania, the state saw a decline of 2.91 percent in enrollment from 2020-2022.
To the surprise of only the most passionate defenders of the president’s strategy, there was a direct correlation between extended school closures and mask requirements and poor student performance.
Numbers don’t lie.
This is the very-much-intended consequence of public-sector unions and their influence over our elected officials. Government unions gave Gov. Tom Wolf more than $10 million to secure his re-election bid and are currently shelling out millions more in this current election cycle to make secure their radical candidates’ victories.
The reality is jarring but, unfortunately, not surprising. It was reported in 2021 that Wolf and his team met with, and took directives from, the heads of state teachers’ unions prior to issuing shutdown orders for school districts across our Commonwealth.
Apparently in the eyes of radical politicians, if the public-sector unions give you enough money, they can buy any outcome they like — even one that destroys our next generation in the process.