Better in their words…

Hey, when you’re trying hard to help people who can’t help themselves, you can’t get bogged down in the numbers.
==================
Liberals often struggle at math, notably when describing government funding. A case in point is North Carolina, where Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan is bludgeoning Republican opponent Thom Tillis with a bogus set of education-funding numbers.

Ms. Hagan and her allies are blanketing the airwaves with ads claiming Mr. Tillis, North Carolina’s House speaker, slashed $500 million from school funding. The National Education Association, the nation’s largest union, cut an ad featuring an English teacher who claims: “His cuts go so deep, there are no longer enough textbooks to go around. Tillis even voted to increase class sizes—so kids don’t get the attention they need. The fact is: Thom Tillis hurts North Carolina students.”

What’s hurting North Carolinians in this election is Mr. Tillis’s failure to respond to the barrage, which is a big reason Ms. Hagan retains her slim lead in the polls. North Carolinians rate education a top concern, and the Hagan attacks resonate in particular with women voters. A Fox News polls from September showed Ms. Hagan winning women 46 to 30, and Mr. Tillis’s best shot at victory is closing that gap.

It shouldn’t be tough. Even the media fact checkers—usually no friends to Republicans—have called the $500 million an imaginary number. Education funding in North Carolina has increased every year since Mr. Tillis became speaker in 2011. State expenditures per pupil in grades K-12 have increased every year, from $5,156 per child in 2011 to $5,395 in 2013.

“In the four years under Thom Tillis’s speakership, state education funding has increased by nearly $1 billion,” says Terry Stoops, director of research and education studies for the John Locke Foundation, a state think tank that pulled the budget numbers. Mr. Stoops says that increase is “particularly significant, given most school funding comes directly from the state” budget (rather than from property taxes) and thus vies with a lot of other priorities.

Adding to the phoniness of her numbers, it turns out Ms. Hagan’s $500 million includes funding for community colleges and universities. Strip that out, and the actual “cut” for K-12 education was about $120 million. The John Locke Foundation also points out that the state over the past four years has repeatedly overestimated what the education department needs to maintain its current programs.

The mantra of Democratic candidates that more spending equals better learning is one of the great scams in U.S. politics. Last year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that a spending vs. performance comparison across developed nations revealed U.S. spending per pupil near the top, yet our achievement in math, science and reading is back in the middle of the global pack. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called it “a picture of educational stagnation.”

Ms. Hagan’s strategy is to savage Mr. Tillis’s tenure as speaker and paint him as an ineffective leader. The Republican has half-heartedly answered the charges, preferring to spend his air time attacking Ms Hagan. Her record deserves attention, but voters also deserve to know they can trust Republicans on key issues. Mr. Tillis should turn the education spending issue into a debate about money and reform for actual learning
Kay Hagan’s Bad Math – WSJ – WSJ.