And I would guess the next year, she would shut down another half, and after 10 years, there would be just public 96½ schools left in the United States. (98,817 [according to the most recent count]/1024 [210])
This is, of course, reductio ad absurdum, and not at all fair.
She only wants to close down 46,408½ schools:
At a school in Keota, Iowa, the Democratic White House hopeful was discussing public schools, and praised Iowa for having one of the best school systems in the country. Clinton also highlighted that Iowa had the 2nd-highest ACT scores in the country—that was true in both 2013 and 2014, although only among states where more than half the graduates took the test. And she criticized Iowa GOP Gov. Terry Branstad for vetoing a one-time payment of $56 million to schools this year.
But then she said this: "This school district and these schools throughout Iowa are doing a better-than-average job," Clinton told the crowd. "Now, I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing a better-than-average job. If a school's not doing a good job, then, you know, that may not be good for the kids."
I could argue that Hillary, and/or her speech writer, clearly received an inadequate education, at least in terms of math, but that would be meaningless snark.
I also feel compelled to note that she was primarily talking about how Iowa’s Governor Mindfuck has cut education, to the detriment of children.
I will instead make a different point: The language of public education has been taken over by the Education/Industrial complex, and replaced discussions of the needs of children with a Darwinian/Objectivist/Lord of the Flies dialogue that has our children held hostage to relentless testing and the whims of corrupt for profit (and phony not for profit) Charter operators.
Hillary has an excellent record on education, and she has an excellent record on children’s issues, but when she opens her mouth it is nearly always coached in the language of the VSPs (Very Serious People), and so her language, though not the context, of her speech is alarming..
People who want to use education for something other than siphoning taxpayer dollars to the education-industrial complex.
I am not sure how, but we need to pushback against the looters and the spoilers.