Minnesota Daycare’s “Learing” Error Exposes State’s Child Care Fraud Scandal

By Jim Thomas | Tuesday, 30 December 2025 09:56 PM EST

A Minneapolis daycare center that became a national punch line for misspelling “Learning” on its front sign has quietly corrected the error, an embarrassing fix that comes as state officials face renewed scrutiny over oversight failures and fraud concerns tied to Minnesota’s child care system.

The Quality “Learing” Center in Minneapolis corrected the misspelled sign that thrust the business into national spotlight one day after independent journalists visited the site while examining fraud allegations involving daycare providers in the city. A sticker was affixed Tuesday morning to change the sign to “Quality Learning Center,” correcting a mistake critics cited as an ironic red flag for a business tasked with early education.

Even after the fix, another error remained visible: The street address beneath the sign continued to read “Nicolet” instead of “Nicollet.”

Manager Ibrahim Ali attributed the typo to his center’s graphic designer and confirmed it would be corrected.

The misspelling became a symbol of broader concerns after the center surfaced amid scrutiny of Minnesota’s human services fraud scandal. The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families reported the center closed last week due to space constraints, while Commissioner Tikki Brown stated state officials found no evidence of fraud linked to the center.

However, reporters observed the building was active on Monday afternoon with children arriving and cars filling the parking lot—despite official claims it was closed. At least 20 children were seen entering the center.

The episode revived memories of a widely circulated 2015 video tied to Minnesota’s earlier child care fraud scandals, in which adults posed as students to inflate enrollment at state-funded education programs. That footage, which emerged during investigations into fraudulent billing practices, became emblematic of how weak oversight allowed operators to claim public money for services that were never delivered.

The resurfacing of the video amid the “Learing” Center controversy has reinforced public skepticism that Minnesota has fully addressed systemic vulnerabilities exposed nearly a decade ago.

Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on X that the FBI has been aggressively targeting a massive fraud network linked to Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future program. “The FBI has toppled a $250 million fraud network that targeted vulnerable children and exposed a large-scale money laundering operation,” Patel stated. The investigation led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions.

The center gained national attention after being featured in a viral video by independent journalist Nick Shirley, who visited several daycare centers in Minneapolis while investigating alleged misuse of taxpayer funds. Shirley reported that some centers received hundreds of millions of dollars in payments without legitimate business activity to justify them.