SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — COVID shutdowns had an impact on education across the country, but Monday people got a closer look at just how much.
The California Department of Education released its first statewide standardized test results since before the pandemic.
Reading and math are where kids in California are faring the worst. An alarming 66% of California students are not proficient in Math and 53% are not proficient in reading.
Break it down by community, and it gets even worse. About 84% of black students and 79% of Latino students did not meet state math standards in 2022.
Republicans have been pushing for months now for these results to be released before the Nov. 8 election, like they typically are.
“The Republicans who were mainly against closing up the schools, and keeping the kids out, will be saying 'We told you so' that we said 'your kids cannot learn in a remote environment'," Political Analyst Steve Swatt said.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond told the LA Times that it was a tough decision the state had to make.
“The Democrats, however, will say, 'look, especially in California, we had 100,000 Californians die from COVID, all we were trying to do is protect kids and keep kids safe,'" Swatt said.
In the only gubernatorial debate on Sunday, Governor Gavin Newsom was asked how he will give faith to public school parents across the state. There’s a teacher shortage, burnout and now the new test scores. His four kids go to private school.
“I'm passionate about public education; I'm a product of public education," Newsom said. "My kids are going to school right behind our house, a Waldorf school, which is about creativity and critical thinking and the kinds of things that we're advancing our public education system, and the approach we've taken is to provide that same kind of choice and opportunity that my kids are afforded.”
His opponent, Republican Senator Brian Dahle said despite all the recent historic funding directed to public education, Californians are expressing their anger with their feet.
“California parents are leaving our education system because it's so poor," Dahle said. "It's not been fixed under your watch or the watch before, and you can't blame Republicans. Republicans haven't been in control in California for the last 10 years.”
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