{"id":339645,"date":"2026-05-31T00:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T00:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339645\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T00:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T00:33:15","slug":"bill-maher-blasts-californias-education-results-cites-two-surging-red-states-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339645\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Maher blasts California’s education results, cites two surging red states"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Maher\u00a0used Friday\u2019s \u201cReal Time with Bill Maher\u201d to criticize California Democrats<\/a> over education and green energy, arguing that Mississippi and Texas are outperforming the deep-blue state on issues Democrats often campaign on.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats, these are your issues: education, race, the environment,\u201d Maher said. \u201cAnd I say this with love: you\u2019re losing to the Waffle House<\/a>, car-on-the-lawn states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher said California\u2019s school outcomes<\/a> were especially difficult to defend when compared with Mississippi, citing fourth-grade results for Black students.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you know that a Black fourth grader in Mississippi is two and a half times as likely to be proficient in math and reading as one in California?\u201d Maher said. \u201cMississippi is kicking our a\u2013 in education and for way less money. We\u2019re 37th in fourth-grade reading. They\u2019re ninth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher was citing a Feb. 9, 2026 New York Times article\u00a0which stated<\/a>, \u201cFor anyone familiar with civil rights history, national testing results are astonishing. A Black Mississippi child is two and a half times as likely to be proficient in reading by fourth grade as a Black California child.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BillBill Maher\u00a0used Friday\u2019s \u201cReal Time with Bill Maher\u201d to criticize California Democrats over education and green energy<\/p>\n

The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Programs snapshots show Black fourth-graders in Mississippi at 19% proficient and 2% advanced in reading, compared with 7% proficient and 1% advanced in California.<\/p>\n

In fourth-grade math, Mississippi\u2019s Black students were listed at 22% proficient and 2% advanced, compared with 10% proficient and 1% advanced in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas has passed California in solar and blows away California when it comes to wind and energy storage,\u201d Maher said. \u201cHow does a state with no pro-climate policies produce better climate results than a state where here, even though we have so much better bumper stickers on our Priuses?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Energy Information Administration data cited by Inside\u00a0Climate\u00a0News showed Texas produced 58,634 gigawatt-hours from utility-scale solar in 2025, compared with California\u2019s 53,713 gigawatt-hours. The outlet reported Texas passed California in installed utility-scale solar capacity in 2024, though California remained ahead when small-scale solar was included.<\/p>\n

Maher blamed the differences on\u00a0permitting, building policy and bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you why,\u201d Maher said. \u201cBecause you\u2019re allowed to build there. Because every third person in Texas isn\u2019t someone whose job it is to make sure nothing gets done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ElementaryThe 2024 National Assessment of Educational Programs snapshots show Black fourth-graders in Mississippi at 19% proficient and 2% advanced in reading, compared with 7% proficient and 1% advanced in California. Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

Maher began the segment by pointing to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat running for governor. A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released Friday showed Mahan at 4%, while former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Steve Hilton and billionaire Tom Steyer lead the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be the unions, the bureaucrats, the lawyers, the consultants, the regulators and all the special interest friends who make living in this state\u00a0such a frustrating, maddening experience,\u201d Maher said. \u201cIt\u2019s why the railroads don\u2019t get built, the potholes don\u2019t get filled, the homeless don\u2019t get housed, the kids don\u2019t learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher also called out Republicans. He singled out Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. Maher chided, \u201cRecently, the press has gotten very excited about some Republican senators who\u2019ve had just about enough of Trump\u2019s shenanigans. Yeah, \u2018cuz they\u2019re retiring.\u201d Tillis is retiring. Cassidy was recently beat in a primary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maher also mentioned Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has been critical of President Donald Trump. The HBO host joked, \u201cI just wish he talked that way when he was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital\u00a0reached out to Governor Gavin Newsom for comment but did not immediately hear back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Maher\u00a0used Friday\u2019s \u201cReal Time with Bill Maher\u201d to criticize California Democrats over education and green energy, arguing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[96494,7,9,8,4182,3586],"class_list":["post-339645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-bill-maher","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-metro","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}