Study’s tally up COVID learning lost: one says total is $900 billion

New Mexico voters may have given MLG a second term, but perhaps the saddest part of that was to reward her poor performance on COVID. And, while her decisions were made 2.5 years ago, the studies highlighting her mistakes (and those of pro-lockdown governors), especially in education continue to come in.

One study highlighted above, found that student learning loss will amount to $900 billion. That study used NAEP test results and extrapolated future earnings based on educational performance. Given NM’s devastating decline in test scores even relative to other states, this will of course be especially challenging.

Furthermore, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal quotes one of the researchers observing that, for eighth-grade students:

College enrollment would fall 2.4%. Meantime, the number of high school dropouts would increase 3.6%, of teen mothers by 3.2%, of the unemployed by 6.6%, and of young men incarcerated by 14.2%.

Finally, as Christopher Jacobs points out in The Federalist, another study analyzing this year’s NAEP results proved what many observers might intuit: The poorest areas suffered worst from learning loss.

More money hasn’t helped New Mexico kids much whether the conversation is pre or post-COVID. MLG certainly hasn’t put forth any detailed education plan. How long do New Mexico kids have to wait?