By: Scottie Hughes, Contributing Writer
After weeks of national mockery and conservative outrage, the infamous misspelled sign outside the Quality “Learing” Center in Minneapolis has finally been corrected. The exterior now reads “Quality Learning Center”, a small but symbolic change that highlights a much larger controversy over government-funded childcare programs in Minnesota. The mispelled word just covered over with the correction, yet the sign fixer did not even take the time to make sure the bubbles were smoothed out of the vinyl. A job done swiftly and without attention to detail.
The misspelling became a viral flashpoint after citizen journalist Nick Shirley released a lengthy video in late December alleging widespread fraud in the state’s daycare subsidy system. In the video, Shirley pointed out that a facility receiving nearly $2 million in taxpayer funds just in 2025 alone had a sign so carelessly made or neglected that it openly misspelled the word “learning.”
To many conservatives, that sign was more than an embarrassing typo. It was a symbol of government waste and a lack of oversight: a taxpayer-funded program paying millions to entities that appeared inactive during normal business hours, with little evidence that they provided the services they were paid to deliver.
Critics seized on the sign as evidence that Minnesota’s bureaucratic systems have been too eager to distribute public funds without verifying whether children are being served. Conservative commentators noted that if a center had been operating legitimately and professionally, such an obvious error would have been corrected long ago.
The controversy did more than generate ridicule online. It drew national attention and prompted scrutiny from federal and state authorities, adding fuel to ongoing investigations into alleged misuse of childcare assistance funds across the state.
Supporters of the center argued that the sign was simply a mistake by a signmaker and that the facility was open and serving children, though perhaps at nonstandard hours. Center management denied any fraud and claimed the viral video misrepresented their operations.
But whether an individual center intended harm or not, the broader issue remains: Minnesota’s childcare assistance programs have come under increasing fire from conservatives who say taxpayer dollars have flowed with insufficient checks and accountability.
Correcting a sign never should have been a national story. But the fact that it became one and required correction only after conservative media and citizen journalists amplified it underscores a deeper problem: taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability, especially when millions in public dollars are at stake.
The sign has been fixed. But the debate over how Minnesota funds and oversees its childcare programs and whether those systems serve children and families as intended is far from over
Scottie Hughes is a regular contributor to TriStar Daily and is currently reporting from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Author
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Scottie Nell Hughes is a journalist, author, political pundit, public speaker and campaign consultant. Currently seen primarily in the US on NewsNation and internationally on almost every network around the globe.
Previously, Scottie Nell was the host of Perspective and the 360 View and News Views Hughes, which broadcast on multiple international networks and in multiple countries, including Russia, India, Germany, and South Africa.
Prior to the network being closed in 2022, Scottie Nell was the final voice heard on RT America where she had hosted a primetime show since 2018. Her coverage of the 2021 State of the Union for the RT network was a finalist for best news analysis by the New York TV & Film Festival.
Prior to hosting her own program, she served as a CNN Contributor during the 2016 election seasons as one of the original proponents of President Donald J Trump. She has also served as creator and News Director for the Tea Party News Network which was one of the first online news networks launched in 2012 and primary sponsors of the 2012 CPAC.
First seen nationally on Piers Morgan Tonight, Scottie Nell has appeared on every domestic and international network at some point during her more than two decades in broadcasting.
Released in September 2014 by Worthy Publishing, Scottie authored her first book titled Roar: The New Conservative Woman Speaks Out which can be found in both Christian and secular bookstores across the Country as well as ranked #1 on Amazon’s female political book list for several weeks.
Over her more than 20 yrs of experience in media, Scottie Nell has traveled to multiple countries with both the White House Press Corp and the Department of Defense including the 2018 100th celebration of the end of WWI in Paris, France, the 2018 G20 in Buenos Aires, the 2019 Hanoi Summit, and the 2019 Brexit vote in London, England. Scottie Nell was in the first group of radio talk show hosts sent by the Department of Defense to travel to the frontlines of Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq and Kuwait as well as the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She has been a part of the White House Press Corps multiple times since her first assignment covering President George W. Bush for his 2005 Inauguration.
A Magna Cum Laude graduate from the University of Tennessee at Martin with a broadcast communications/ political science degree, Scottie lives with her husband Chris (TNGOP Executive Committeeman) and children Houston & German Shepherd Maverick in Nashville, TN.
