Since 2019, Minnesota has had a former educator in the governor’s office — an “Educator-in-Chief,” as nicknamed by himself and his teachers’ union Education Minnesota.
“Thank you to our friends at Education Minnesota. We couldn’t have done this without you,” Gov. Tim Walz wrote in 2018. “Together, we will put an educator-in-chief in the governor’s office and fulfill our promise of a robust education to the next generation of Minnesotans.”
Seven years on that promise still appears in need of fulfillment.
While declines in academic achievement were recorded nationwide during the COVID years, policy choices made by Gov. Walz and his commissioners exacerbated the learning loss experienced in the state. These lower skills translate to future economic losses. Minnesota is the 8th highest state in expected loss in lifetime income from interrupted learning, according to calculations by Stanford economist Eric Hanushek. Other states — including Mississippi — began recovering faster and today outperform Minnesota in a number of ways.
New assessment data released a week ago confirm the majority of Minnesota students are still below grade-level in reading and math, despite continued and significant state spending increases on education the last several years and record-levels of federal aid.
Math/Reading Proficiency on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments
and Per-Pupil Spending in Minnesota Public Schools
These results mirror national assessment data, which show reading and math scores have declined significantly during Gov. Walz’s gubernatorial tenure. In 2022, they were the lowest recorded in 30 years.
National Assessment of Educational Progress Fourth-Grade Reading
Score point difference from 2019 to 2024 by state
National Assessment of Educational Progress Fourth-Grade Math
Score point difference from 2019 to 2024 by state
Under Gov. Walz Minnesota has achieved a record high school graduation rate of 84.2 percent for the class of 2024. Yet, in his celebratory press release on this accomplishment Gov. Walz failed to mention this record rate is paired with the lowest math and reading proficiency results among graduation cohorts.
ACT scores have also been dropping. Just over a quarter (26 percent) of Minnesota exam-takers met all four college-readiness benchmarks in math, reading, English, and science, also the lowest percentage in at least a decade. Perhaps more concerning is that 35 percent met zero of the benchmarks.
High school graduation is an important milestone, but if students are being sent out of the system with a piece of paper and deficient skills that is cause for concern.
Minnesota High School Proficiency & Four-Year Graduation Rate
Alarming academic performance declines and lack of progress in helping students achieve basic literacy and numeracy skills have been on Minnesota’s record for too long. Without innovative and creative policy measures — including those that expand the entrepreneurial marketplace of goods and services in education and introduce competition to a system that is fundamentally uncompetitive — Minnesota risks continuing such unsustainable and unacceptable performance results and leaving its Educator-in-Chief’s promise of a robust education to the next generation of Minnesotans unfulfilled.
