It’s the same sad song unions have been singing for over a year, and every word of it is a lie:
First off, it’s Lorain, not Lorraine. Apparently, teachers’ union hacks must be products of a system where educators aren’t held accountable for actually teaching students, or in other words, Ohio’s public school system. But aside from the poor spelling and grammar, the statement is straight up false.
Just take a look at Lorain’s recent five year forecast:
Of course, union hacks will focus on the bottom line, so let’s just get this out of the way: yes, Lorain has less money today than it did a couple years ago. But that’s where the facts end for union arguments.
If union hacks would educate themselves on what these numbers mean (educated union hacks, we know, it’s a stretch), they’d find that Ohio governors control state money, that is line 1.035 “Unrestricted Grants-in-Aid.” And those numbers tell a different story:
2010: $59.38 million under Strickland’s budget
2011: $59.27 million under Strickland’s budget
2012: $62.27 million under Kasich’s budget
2013: $63.92 million under Kasich’s budget
That’s right, folks. Under former Governor Strickland, state funds to public schools were cut in his last two years. Under Governor Kasich, state funds to public schools were increased.
That bears repeating: Governor Kasich increased state dollars to public schools.
What the union faithful conveniently leave out is that the reason overall revenue went down is that Strickland relied on one-time “Restricted Federal Grants-in-Aid” from our Commander-in-Chief, or more commonly known as stimulus dollars. And not lightly either–to the tune of $4 million in 2010 and a whopping $7 million in 2011.
Perhaps union hacks would like to instead point the finger at President Obama for not coughing up his share for public education? Because Kasich ponied up more than even his union-heralded predecessor did.
Of course, there’s even bigger issues with Lorain schools. Especially given that they bumped teacher salaries and benefits when the stimulus dollars came rolling in, knowing they were one-time dollars. That’s like getting a year-end bonus and buying a house–you may be able to afford the mortgage payment then, but down the road you’ll be left struggling to make ends meet.
It’s just not good budgeting. Of course, former Governor Strickland knows a thing or two about poor budgeting, despite warnings of impending deficits.
Perhaps union hacks would do well to stop pointing fingers, drop the campaign of lies, and give credit where credit is due for looking out for students.
John Kasich increased state aid to public schools. You’re welcome.
Cross-posted at GOHP Blog.
