Nikki Haley: How we can fix our broken education system

Look at pre-COVID. Pre-COVID, 65% of fourth graders were not proficient in reading. Pre-COVID, 66% of eighth graders were not proficient in reading or math. Think about that. We had a problem before COVID, so don't let them say that COVID brought this on. We already had a problem with the establishment in education before. So now you go and you look at the fact that in rural South Carolina where I was born and raised, COVID hits. Think of a child where both parents had to work. Here is this kid using a screen he's never used before. Used by way of a hot spot on a school bus down the street. Now think he's in third grade. What's he learning? Reading? Fractions? Science? Do you think the teachers unions are going to tell his parents to hold him back? They're not. So what happened after two years of lost education when we were already behind in math and reading? Who is going to stand up for these kids? And then you take it a step further that those kids in rural South Carolina, when all the wealthy families got to put their kids in private schools, where did the rest of the kids go? That's my issue is, one, let's go back and fix what was already broken. You've got some kids, don't push them through to the next grade. Don't push them through later. If a child can't read by third grade, they're four times less likely to graduate high school. Then we need to open up school choice. We need to open up charter schools. And we need to go put the blame where it belongs, which is on the teachers unions and the Democrats that wanted COVID money more than they wanted to teach our kids. And we have to hold them accountable.