Chicago residents have a better chance of being shot than they do of getting a good education, Republican presidential hopeful Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.
“You think of a place like Chicago, these kids – you're more likely to get shot than to get a world-class education in some of these places,” DeSantis said, while addressing a homeschool convention in Orlando.
DeSantis made the comment while describing the harm done in liberal-run cities that delayed reopening schools after the COVID threat had waned.
“Nobody wants to admit that they wanted to lock kids out of school for a year and a half because you've seen the results,” DeSantis said, noting how school attendance never recovered in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York:
“From 2020 to 2022, people have just totally vanished from some of these urban school districts across the country.
“Chicago – 25,000 fewer students than in 2020; Los Angeles – 43,000 fewer students than in 2020; New York – 50,000 fewer students than in 2020. In Florida, our school enrollment is up and our homeschool numbers are up.
“You think of a place like Chicago, these kids – you're more likely to get shot than to get a world-class education in some of these places.”
The average Chicago shooting victim is high-school age (17) at the time of being shot, according to the results of a recent study of more than twenty-four hundred Chicagoans, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study also finds that 6.46% (1 in 15) of Chicagoans have been shot by their 40th birthday. What’s more, half (50.0%) have witnessed a shooting by that age. Males (11.40% or 1 in 8.8) are five times more likely than female respondents (2.28% or 1 in 43.8) to be shot by age 40.
DeSantis also used his speech to dispel the false claims made by liberals and media regarding the parental-rights bill he signed.
Parental rights are about transparency, not censorship or discrimination, he explained:
“Part of parents’ rights means you have a right as a parent to curriculum transparency, you have a right to know what is being taught in your kid’s school.
“And, if there are materials that are inappropriate, because of age or they violate Florida standards, you have the right to blow the whistle on that now.”
Governor DeSantis Speaks at the Florida Parent Educators Association’s Homeschool Convention https://t.co/TrrXYVLWQg
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 26, 2023