WATCH: Ron DeSantis says that in Chicago 'you're more likely to get shot than to get a world-class education'

While speaking at the Florida Parent Educator Association's homeschool convention in Orlando on Friday, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis explained that data shows an individual is more likely to get shot in the Democrat-run city of Chicago than they are to receive a good education.

The 2024 presidential election hopeful made the comments on stage while addressing crime-ridden cities that have succumbed to the failures of progressive policies, like New York, Seattle, California, and Chicago.


 

"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," said DeSantis, who launched his bid for President of the United States last week on Twitter alongside Elon Musk.

The Florida governor slammed the city for keeping kids out of school during the coronavirus pandemic—a decision that has resulted in failing test scores and increased dropouts—while encouraging students to participate in the violent and deadly BLM/Antifa riots following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in 2020. 

"That's when you knew this was all a total fraud," DeSantis said, speaking on the hypocrisy of school lockdowns. "They were using political ideology and they were trying to control your behavior."

“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. "From 2020 to 2022, people have just totally vanished from some of these urban school districts across the country."

After boasting about the state of Florida and its academic successes after being ranked number one in the nation for public education, according to Tampa Bay Times, Gov. DeSantis cited data from Democrat-controlled states which have seen a drastic decrease in student enrollment following the Covid-19 pandemic, unlike the Sunshine State, which shut down schools for only a limited amount of time.

"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," DeSantis explained. "In Florida, our school enrollment is up and our homeschool numbers are up."

"Florida was just ranked number one in education by U.S. News and World Report," DeSantis lauded to parents on Friday. "When the Nation's Report Card reported the first post-COVID test scores, the only thing all 50 states do, Florida came in third and fourth respectively in fourth grade reading and fourth grade math."

"We ranked number one in education freedom," DeSantis said, who hopes to turn Florida's policies into a model for the entire US if elected president.

Following months of speculation by many conservatives, the Florida governor officially announced that he is running in the 2024 presidential election on Wednesday during a Twitter space co-hosted by Elon Musk.

"Our country's going in the wrong direction," stated DeSantis. "We see it with our eyes and we feel it in our bones."

The Florida governor spoke on a myriad of issues plaguing the United States, including its poor economy, the crisis at the southern border, spiking drug overdoses, and the crumbling integrity of American institutions.

The DeSantis campaign says the Florida governor is largely running on his record, which it claims is the most "conservative policy agenda in the country."