The Big Lie

Here’s a line in the sand I’m ready to draw: I’ll never support any candidate for any office who propagated the Big Lie that opening schools was unsafe.

It’s been propagated in California like nowhere else. Biden’s Education Department just reported we have the fewest fourth graders in school full-time: 5 percent. Across all grades, we’ve lagged behind every state throughout the last year: 50th out of 50.

Who, specifically, is accountable? Here’s who to start with:

Gavin Newsom. There may not be a person in the world more culpable than Newsom, whose biggest campaign donor is teachers’ unions. Last Fall, he was one of only 5 governors to force schools to close; this Spring, he was the only West Coast governor not to make them open. All the while, Newsom had no problem “endangering” his own kids at a private school. He then added another lie, claiming they were in “Zoom school.”

Tony Thurmond. The State Superintendent, whom teachers’ unions spent $13 million installing, has peddled the Big Lie at every turn. When I questioned him last October, he tipped his hand that the plan was to keep schools closed the entire year or longer, breathlessly citing “new data” that “COVID could be with us well beyond 2021.”

The Legislature: It’s never questioned the Big Lie. After my “Killing our Kids for Nothing” speech in March, the Legislature rejected my Amendment to open schools immediately.

Education Committee Chairs. The Assembly Chair has refused to allow even a vote on my bills to reopen schools and fund students directly, has silenced my microphone, and has denied public comment. The Senate Education Chair, for her part, just insanely proposed that distance learning continue “into the fall and possibly further.”

School Boards: LA and SF Unified are the worst offenders. After keeping schools closed this whole year, they’re now scamming the state for millions in extra funding with fake re-openings. SF is opening two high schools for one-day-per-week “supervision” while LA set up a Kafkaesque “Zoom in a Room” serving 7 percent of students. It’s time to consider disbanding these farcically corrupt districts.

It’s also, of course, time to oust this historically corrupt Governor. Newsom recently tried to minimize the tragedy of learning loss by calling it “unfinished learning.” Perhaps he’s hoping we’ll refer to his Recall loss as an unfinished term.

*Sign up below to get my updates from inside our corrupt State Capitol

To receive updates from Kevin Kiley, signup directly through his website here (form at the bottom): https://blog.electkevinkiley.com.