US Rep. Jeff Duncan is ignoring facts and showing little heart about falling test scores

The oddest part of a recent statement by U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan on low student test scores was the scare quotes around “public health.”

Does Duncan throw up his hands and wiggle his fingers every time he says “public health” to insinuate that public health might not actually exist?

It begs the question, what in all things holy is Duncan talking about when it comes to falling student test scores?

Duncan is a Republican who represents South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District in the Upstate.

A Thursday Washington Post article lead with “Test scores in elementary school math and reading plummeted to levels unseen for decades.” In response, Duncan offered the following statement on Twitter:

“The historic ‘falloff’ of test scores is a result of forcing children into social isolation and allowing left-leaning teachers’ unions to call the shots instead of parents. We are now facing the repercussions of locking down our schools and society in the name of ‘public health.’”

So Rep. Duncan, who’s to blame in South Carolina where your right-leaning party is in charge and no teachers’ unions exist?

Duncan’s statement ignores reality and manifests what he and many Republicans do best — pander to voters while not offering any solutions.

Here’s a fact:

It was left up to state school leaders to close schools in 2020 as the pandemic set in, and S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican mind you, chose to close schools in April that year, a decision that was supported by Republican state schools superintendent Molly Spearman. That was the right decision, but it wasn’t a decision called for by teachers’ unions. The next year, school districts chose when to close their schools based on the spread on the virus.

It will never stop making my palm hit my face when some members of the Republican Party, the supposed party of personal responsibility, fail to take any personal responsibility for conditions in South Carolina. Instead, they rely on creating boogie-men like “left-leaning teachers’ unions” — which to emphasize do . . . not . . . exist . . . in the Palmetto State — to blame for problems.

Duncan’s statement also turns a blind eye to a harsher truth in South Carolina. Before the pandemic, test scores weren’t anything to brag about.

In the 2018-19 school year before the pandemic hit, about 58% of South Carolina third-graders were meeting or exceeding expectations in math, and about 50% were proficient or better at reading. Taken together, that means a little more than half of third-graders are reading and doing math well in the state. That is tragic and shameful and lies far more at the feet of lawmakers than public school officials.

This would be a good test question for Duncan:

True or false: The Republican Party has largely been in control of education policy for decades in South Carolina and has overseen a system that created dismal test scores prior to the pandemic.

The answer is true.

The most painful part of Duncan’s statement is it lacks humanity, and for children, no less. He’s in essence saying “kids got dumber ‘cause of the Dems.”

Where’s your heart, Duncan?

It can’t be denied that test scores declined during the pandemic, but did Duncan never stop to think maybe scores went down because kids were dealing with a stressful and emotional situation that even adults couldn’t figure out exactly how to navigate?

Did Duncan never say to himself, “Maybe a lot of kids had parents and grandparents hospitalized and who died, and that really hurt them and was reflected in their school work.”

Have some “sympathy” Duncan.