A new report published by the New York Times confirms what Iowa Republicans have been saying for over a year: remote instruction was not good for learning.

Research shows that students who stayed home for most of 2020-2021, on average, lost the equivalent of about 50 percent of a typical school year’s math learning. In comparison, students who attended in-person school only lost about 20 percent worth of a typical school year’s math learning. 

Not only did students face learning losses, but remote instruction also widened the economic and racial disparities in education. The impacts are so detrimental the author of the study says, "This will probably be the largest increase in educational inequity in a generation.” 

While Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Republicans were passing legislation to offer every parent a 100 percent, in-person learning option, Democrats fought tooth and nail to keep kids out of schools, completely ignoring Iowa students and their parents. Here are some of their reactions to the GOP bill at the time: 

• Sen. Joe Bolkcom (D-Iowa City): “This bill is nothing more than Gov. Reynolds settling a political score with large urban school districts that disagreed with her."
• Rep. Bruce Hunter (D-Des Moines): "The problem is that [Republicans] and a lot of people seem to be working on this fast track to implement this thing."
• Rep. Jennifer Konfrst (D-Windsor Heights): "Most of the concern I'm hearing is about the lack of ability to make those decisions in our own communities."

Thankfully, Iowa Democrats are not in charge of leading our state. Republicans, under the leadership of Gov. Reynolds, made Iowa students' education a priority and gave them the in-class learning options they deserved. No matter what Iowa Democrats desperately claim, the Republican Party of Iowa is the party of education and of putting parents and students first. 

"Gov. Reynolds was one of the first Governors in the country to fight for in-person instruction and now Iowa students have a brighter future because of the work of Iowa Republicans," said Republican party of Iowa Communications Director Kollin Crompton. "As this new report shows, Democrat polices failed America's children and it led to dangerous setbacks for them. If Iowa Democrats had their way, Iowa would be in the same educational crisis as these other states."

###