These people jerk off to the idea of hurting children. Every new policy Republicans come up with, whether its supporting ~~child marriage~~ legalized rape with 12 year olds or trying to bring back child labor, or making children too hungry to learn anything in school, makes their "moral" panic over a bunch of people who happen to be wearing dresses reading to kids even more hypocritical. Honestly I think it's the idea of children being functionally literate that probably terrifies them the most.

Malnutrition leads to developmental delays. Poor academic performance in early years means they're less likely to go to college, and ma not even finish high school. This helps create the next generation of wage slaves that are required for capitalism to survive.

In other words, working as designed.