PHOTOS: Daycare at center of Minnesota fraud scrutiny fixes infamous ‘Learing’ sign

The Minneapolis-area daycare, whose misspelled “Quality Learning Center” sign went viral after it was reported by YouTube journalist Nick Shirley in his investigation into widespread fraud in Minnesota, has now corrected the infamous sign.

Shirley and another man approached a building labeled Quality Learning Center (sic) in Minneapolis, with Shirley noting that “Learning” was misspelled on the daycare’s sign outside. The business appeared inactive during the visit, although it received state child care assistance funds. This led to allegations that the center was one of several participating in a widespread fraud scheme taking place in certain segments of Minnesota’s Somali community.

To many critics, the misspelled sign was an illustration of the fraud openly taking place in Minnesota.

Critics of the center included U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who wrote on

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McMahon wrote: “There are not enough words to describe the stunning failure that occurred on the watch of [Gov. Tim Walz]”.

The center, however, has since rebuffed the allegations, saying it is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Fox News photographed several individuals correcting the misspelled sign Monday evening.

Earlier Monday, Ibrahim Ali, a man who identified himself as director of the Quality Learning Center, strongly denied any allegations of fraud at the facility. He told Fox News that the center is currently open and has never closed, contradicting statements made earlier in the day by Department of Children, Youth and Families officials that the center had closed earlier this month.

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Minnesota’s Quality Learning Center has been found at the center of an alleged child care fraud scandal in the state. (Madelin Fuerste/Fox News Channel)

Ali also accused Shirley of visiting the establishment before business hours, which he said are from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. central time, Monday through Thursday.

He criticized Shirley, saying: “Are you trying to register that we are doing fraud, or are you trying to put the name Somali and fraud in the same sentence?” This is what really hurt us these last few days.

The director blamed the spelling mistake on the person who put it up, saying, “We messed up the sign, we’re paying someone to make our sign, they did it wrong, we’re making them work on it.” We paid him to fix the sign. He said it would be done by this week, so by the end of this week our sign will be fine.

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The Quality Learning Center also recently made news for collecting 95 violations from the state social services agency between 2019 and 2023, according to St. Paul’s ABC affiliate.

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Such violations range from failing to keep dangerous items out of children’s reach to daycare having no records for more than a dozen children listed, according to the news outlet. Documentation reviewed by Fox News Digital showed that the site’s current license does not expire until the end of 2026.

Greg Wehner and Charles Creitz of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.