Chicago kids ‘more likely to get shot’ than get a good education: DeSantis
Ron DeSantis on Friday blasted big city progressives and public education, claiming that Chicago children are “more likely to get shot” than receive a good education, The New York Post reported.
The Florida governor, in his first speech since announcing his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday, linked his attacks on big cities and public education to the pandemic, noting the impact of widespread school closures.
DeSantis delivered the speech at a homeschooling convention in Orlando.
“Nobody wants to admit that they wanted to lock kids out of school for a year and a half because you’ve seen the results,” DeSantis said.
“From 2020 to 2022, people have just totally vanished from some of these urban school districts across the country.”
He noted plummeting enrollment in Chicago, which experienced an enrollment decline of 25,000, Los Angeles, which dropped by 43,000, and New York which slumped by 50,000.
“In Florida, our school enrollment is up,” DeSantis said.
“When you think of a place like Chicago, these kids, you’re more likely to get shot than you are to get a world-class education in some of these places.”
DeSantis gained national attention by pushing back against COVID-19 restrictions amid criticism “from Democrats, the media and even then-President Donald Trump,” The Post reports.
“We have to be honest about the destruction that we have seen throughout our country over the last three years, particularly in these urban areas that turn their back on our school children and put the interests of school unions ahead of the interest of parents and students,” DeSantis said.