“Randi Weingarten is nothing if not predictable,” said Aaron Withe, CEO of the Freedom Foundation. “She blamed Donald Trump and former Education Secretary Betsey DeVos for not having a national plan to reopen schools, but dodged questions about why her own union’s guidance to the CDC focused only on when schools could be shut back down, rather than how to get them back up and running.”

“Perhaps Ms. Weingarten can explain why the states and school districts that stayed closed the longest are run by state and local officials whose campaigns were bankrolled by teachers’ unions, while the state and officials who got their kids back in class were free to do so because they aren’t tied to teachers’ union campaign cash?”

“The fact is, Randi Weingarten didn’t start talking like a champion of opening schools until she lost control of a lot of school boards across the country in 2020 and 2021,” continued Withe. “After Randi Weingarten helped Terry McAuliffe lose the Virginia governor’s race, she realized she had better start singing a different tune and hope parents forget she was at the center of the CDC school closures.”

“Unfortunately for Randi Weingarten, parents remember that private schools, fitness centers and bars opened before many schools in areas like New York, Chicago and LA,” concluded Withe. “Parents aren’t going to forget the devastating test scores and suffering they watched their own children endure as a result of unnecessary and politically-motivated school closures.”

“And the Freedom Foundation will do everything we can to make sure she doesn’t get away with gaslighting the public like she tried to do in today’s congressional hearing.”