Ed desk: Failing Schools Predate COVID

The latest “appalling” scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in reading and math “highlight long-term trends that extend back to the 1970s,” observes Larry Sand at City Journal. Factors “other than Covid are causing our students to stumble.” It’s not lack of money: “Inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending rose from $7,089 in the 1971-72 school year to $17,013 in 2019-20, a whopping 140 percent.” Or class size: Nationally, “since 1921, the student-to-teacher ratio has been cut in half.” The real cause? “Too many underperforming teachers.” Data suggest that after axing “the bottom-performing 5 percent to 7 percent of teachers, American education could rival Finland’s world-class system” — which means “we must find ways to reduce” the power of, or “better yet, abolish” teachers unions.

Cali beat: Lawmakers’ ‘Magical’ Housing Fix

California Assembly members proposed a constitutional amendment declaring housing a “fundamental right,” marvels Steven Greenhut at The Orange County Register. “Who knew? Lawmakers have wrestled with innumerable complex issues over the years, but finally someone realized that all they needed to do to magically solve any problem is to pass a new ‘right’ to something.” The amendment would give everyone the “right to live somewhere,” protecting tenants against “forced evictions,” perhaps even for nonpayment. Yet if property owners can’t properly vet or evict tenants, “then they aren’t going to invest in or rent out apartments. They certainly aren’t going to make repairs to houses lived in by non-paying tenants, which will make the housing stock less adequate.” So this approach will only lead to “fewer available rentals.”

Libertarian: Prez’s Unstoppable Loan Forgiveness

“The Biden administration has announced that it will forgive almost $40 billion in federal student loans for over 800,000 total borrowers enrolled in one of several income-driven repayment plans,” groans Reason’s Emily Camp. The Education Department claims these new loan cancellations address errors where millions of borrowers qualified for loan forgiveness but never received it. Still, it seems that although Biden’s original “loan forgiveness was struck down by the Supreme Court, the Education Department is still free to spend billions of taxpayer dollars by making dramatic changes to existing loan repayment programs.” Indeed, Biden’s tweaks to IDR plans “are projected to cost as much as $360 billion in just the next decade,” vs. $400 billion for the plan the court nixed.

From the left: Don’t Count Ron Out Yet

Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis is seen as “one major misstep away from a campaign in free fall,” notes Ed Kilgore at New York magazine. But “it hasn’t happened yet.” And “two basic realities” will “keep DeSantis in the game” for now: First, “Trump hasn’t quite reached that tipping point where Republican elites and voters conclude he’s the near-certain nominee and begin to consolidate support for him” — “his support now seems to have plateaued.” Second, “none of the other non-Trump candidates has made a move.” The “first debate in Milwaukee,” where DeSantis “may go toe to toe with the 45th president,” will be a big moment. So the Florida gov’s campaign is far from dead,” though it needs “a good jolt sooner rather than later.”

Defense watch: US Needs More Subs — Pronto

Under a 2021 pact, the United States is to sell attack submarines to Australia, but we’re not even meeting “our own Navy’s requirements” for these subs, warns Sen. Roger Wicker at The Wall Street Journal. Attack submarines are “among our most effective weapons” and “one of the few areas” where we have “a competitive advantage” over China. Yet the sub industry is producing only 1.2 of these ships a year; under the deal, we’d need 2.3 to 2.5. Meanwhile, China’s President Xi Jinping has hinted of a 2027 invasion of Taiwan. “President Biden should immediately send Congress a request for supplemental appropriations and authorities” that boosts output “to 2.5 Virginia-class attack submarines a year.” It’s time “to make generational investments in U.S. submarine production capacity.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board