DEMS’ REMOTE CONTROL

A study by Michigan State University researchers found that whether schools were open or remote in the fall of 2020 did not reflect the danger of COVID — but rather whether Democrats were in charge. As an example, they examined Michigan:

Michigan has more than 500 traditional public-school districts and nearly 300 charter school districts. Each school district had broad discretion on what to do that fall.

“As of August 2020, 59% of districts planned to provide at least the option of fully in-person education and 12% were fully remote only (others pursued hybrid strategies).”

The districts with the lowest share of Democratic voters had 72% in-person instruction. In districts with the highest share, only 41% offered in-person school.

In districts where teachers unions had collective bargaining agreements, schools were only 50% inperson — in non-CBA districts, it was 75% inperson.

Additionally, “We also find that traditional public school districts in Michigan with a higher proportion of black students are significantly less likely to have plans to begin the school year in-person.”

The number of COVID cases did not correlate greatly with whether schools were opened or closed. Researchers found that “decisions were more tied to political partisanship and union strength than to COVID-19 severity.”