I mean a disturbing amount of schools nationwide were falling far short of standards to begin with for years. This more so seems like an attempt to further obscure the fact that the quality of education has been slipping for decades.

In essence kicking the can down the road so a later administration/Government catches all the blame for Adults being uneducated morons. Even though that administration had nothing to do with it and it was really the actions of their predecessors that led to it.