Kevin O’Leary Blames Bad Scores in Schools on Unions [Video]

Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary has blamed low math and reading scores in U.S. schools on unions.

“Our reading and math scores are the worst in the G7 and the G20 in terms of how many dollars we spend to advance our children,” O’Leary, who appears on Shark Tank, said during a discussion on CNN‘s NewsNight on Tuesday.

“Why? Unions. Unions that keep mediocre teachers in place in every high school in America when we should be firing them.”

Newsweek has contacted the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers and other unions for comment via email.

Why It Matters

O’Leary’s comments came during a discussion about the impact of mass layoffs at the Department of Education.

The department on Tuesday announced layoffs of more than 1,300 people as part of an effort to halve the agency’s staff. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Tuesday that the layoffs were the first step in the Trump administration’s plan …