"We are actively dealing with problems remote learning caused. A whole generation of kids is further behind than they were tracking to be behaviorally, mathematically, and in reading scores."
Gee I wonder what would do that, is it three+ years of unmitigated exposure to a virus that causes brain damage? No, the problem is they stayed home, which makes you developmentally challenged, as we all know. Oh, you don't want to get COVID? Then stay home.
Two things can be bad simultaneously. You can say that the way lockdowns were implemented in USA were ineffective and also bad for students, and believe that covid also affects your brain.
It's not hard for me to believe that a chronically underresourced institution that is subject to the political manipulation of bad faith actors didn't respond effectively. Hell, kids in this country don't even have access to the tools you would need to seamlessly go remote, I don't believe enough steps were taken to make the transition work.
I agree that education institutions were always under resourced, and I think we are seeing the conveniences of that. the difference is that before the pandemic it was easier to hide, due to little parental supervision, afterwards it's harder to lie to ourselves when we see that kids were mostly messing around.