Giving him the benefit of the doubt
Friday, Sep 2, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* PolitiFact took this recent statement about Illinois Democrats (which he used constantly in 2014) by Gov. Bruce Rauner…
“They are cutting our school funding. Four times in the last 10 years before we came into office.”
* Includes more detailed claims from the governor’s office…
Rauner’s office provided us with figures from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget from FY 2000 to FY 2015 (the last year in which Illinois had a state budget) to illustrate the trend, and said the years referred to in the speech were FY 2010-FY 2013.
During those years, elementary and secondary education funding went from $7.32 billion to $6.55 billion.
Clearly there’s a decline in school funding over that period. But was it the result of “cutting,” as Rauner claims, or because federal stimulus money ended?
* Then compared it to the Civic Federation’s analysis from 2014…
General Funds spending on education in FY2010 is shown in budget documents as $7.3 billion. But that number includes $790.8 million in federal stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Some analysts might deduct that amount to maximize comparability, which would reduce the General Funds figure for FY2010 to $6.5 billion. Based on that calculation, General Funds spending on education increases by $358 million to $6.8 billion in FY2015. Similarly, budget documents in FY2009 show education spending at $7.4 billion, but that amount includes $1.0 billion of stimulus funding. Deducting that amount results in General Funds spending of $6.3 billion in FY2009 and an increase of $522 million to $6.8 billion in FY2015.
* Doesn’t include this handy Civic Federation chart, which clearly shows the state money increase…
Last I checked, $10.4 billion was higher than $9.2 billion.
* And concludes…
But in claiming that Democrats cut school spending in the final years of their hold on the governor’s office, Rauner resurrects an allegation that should have stayed buried after he won the election.
We rate this claim Mostly False.
Mostly?
If it ain’t a cut, it ain’t a cut.
- Norseman - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 11:06 am:
Kinda like mostly dead? Fearing to offend the wrong people makes the tortured wording of a lot of the fact-checking articles look ridiculous.
- Phenomynous - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 11:16 am:
It’s still a cut when compared to 2008, before ARRA.
- illini - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 11:25 am:
There are facts and then there are MY FACTS. Believe me. @fake BVR.
- Last Bull Moose - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 11:33 am:
In 2008 the economy was hit hard and state and local revenues were hit harder. Everything had to be cut.
- Juice - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 11:33 am:
When the Governor starts making a dent in the backlog of bills, then maybe I’ll take his claims of increasing education funding seriously.
Until then all he’s doing is spending more money on things that are popular while letting our fiscal situation deteriorate further.
- Henry Francis - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 11:42 am:
Everything is relative I guess. So compared to the Guv’s typical phoney baloney, this is closer to some semblance of the truth than much of what he says.
How did they rate his statements about the September 1 strike?
- JS Mill - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 11:43 am:
While touting “full funding” of the GSA (only one part of the actual funding maze in Illinois, the reality is that they are not. Even if one were to believe the “full funding” myth, understanding how they got there is interesting. Think- stealing from Peter to pay Paul, in this case taking from CPPRT and pushing it to GSA as well as reducing the poverty count by questionable methods.
In addition, the state says it will fund things and the money never arrives. Transportation is case in point. We will maybe get 42% of what we are supposed to get. That is Rauner math, not anyone else.
- GA Watcher - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 11:43 am:
I thought the same thing, Rich, when I saw this Politifact/Reboot Illinois piece. Even with other Fact checks they’ve done, them seem to have a hard time with objectivity.
- Whatever - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 12:16 pm:
Phenomynous spotted it. According to the documents linked to the PolitiFact report, general funds contributions were substantially cut in 2009, but by less than the federal stimulus funding, so total spending went up. After 2010, when the federal spigot was shut off, it was not replaced. Whether you want to analyze it as total spending (including federal stimulus) or state funds only, there has been a significant cut. The only difference is the year in which it occurred. Mostly . . . statistics.
- Annonin' - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 12:25 pm:
We know the Politifact rubbish in IL is being produced by the ReBooters who are strugglin’ to find fundin’ since Mrs. ReBoot moved on.
Wonder if their stuff is this bad in other states. Remember this crew concluded that Gonzo bankrolled by Rauner pals mostly false. Dreamland, pure dreamland.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 12:29 pm:
===It’s still a cut when compared to 2008===
The Rauner admin says it started counting in 2010.
- Huh? - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 1:09 pm:
“How did they rate his statements about the September 1 strike?”
1.4% is going to get his strike, just not the one he wanted with AFSCME.
- Whatever - Friday, Sep 2, 16 @ 1:31 pm:
==The Rauner admin says it started counting in 2010. ==
And he was right. Then some Poindexters responded that the 2010 cut was just the federal funds going away. It’s legitimate for other Poindexters to point out that this response merely shifts the year of the cuts, it doesn’t eliminate the fact that there were cuts.
BTW, my own take on the cuts is that 2009 was an awful year for the economy, and the rebound has been slow in coming. Choosing to cut back on school funding when revenues are way down and demand is up is a reasonable policy decision.