There’s less than a month left until voters will decide the gubernatorial race. Incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Scott is running against former Gov. Charlie Crist. It’s hard to avoid the attack ads flying back and forth from both campaigns.
In a TV spot called “Gone”, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Crist hits his opponent hard on education. The ad claims:
“The job Florida teachers do couldn't be more valuable. When Rick Scott cut education by over a billion dollars, thousands of them lost their jobs. Class sizes went up. Our kids paid the price.”
PolitiFact Florida rated the claim for it’s truthfulness. Writer Angie Holan says the claim rates MOSTLY FALSE. Holan said it’s rooted in a bit of truth.
“2011 was a very tough budget year. There were budget cuts, a few teachers were laid off. Relatively speaking, it was just under 2,000, so not really thousands - that's an exaggeration,” Holan said.
Crist’s ad goes on to make a claim about class sizes. In 2002, Florida voters approved a class size amendment that the state phased in over several years. But laws passed by the State Legislature make it tricky to quantify and track the changes.
According to the Florida Department of Education, the percentage of classes that were out of compliance with the class size amendment was 5.48 percent under Crist in the 2010-2011 school year. The number goes up to 6.56 percent in Scott’s first year in office. But that percentage falls to 4.22 percent in the 2012-2013 school year and to just 2.59 percent in the 2013-2014 year. Because of these things, PolitiFact Florida rated the claim MOSTLY FALSE.
SOURCES: CRIST BLAMES GOV. RICK SCOTT ON EDUCATION HITS
- PolitiFact's rating
- Charlie Crist campaign, TV ad "Gone," Sept. 16, 2014
- Florida Department of Education, Staff in Florida’s public schools, 2010-11 and 2011-12
- Sun-Sentinel, "School staffing: fewer layoffs, more hires," June 7, 2012
- State Impact NPR, "How Florida schools are coping with budget cuts," Sept. 6, 2011
- Tampa Bay Times, "Fiorentino’s move shows school district has two sets of rules," June 4, 2011
- Tampa Bay Times, "Law provides class size loophole," Oct. 26, 2013
- Tampa Bay Times, "$4m class size fine looms," Accessed in Nexis, Dec. 24, 2011
- Miami Herald, "Changes in state rules lead to cramped classes," Accessed in Nexis, Aug. 29, 2011
- Miami Herald, "Broward schools adopt plan to keep class sizes down," Accessed in Nexis, Feb. 7, 2012
- PolitiFact, "Charlie Crist says Rick Scott cut K-12 by $1.3 billion in his first year and higher ed by $300 million in his second," Nov. 11, 2013
- PolitiFact, "Rick Scott’s student spending is ‘about $200 less’ than during recession, Charlie Crist says," July 18, 2014
- PolitiFact, "Rick Scott cut education to pay for tax breaks, Democratic Party ad says," July 7, 2014
- PolitiFact, "Charlie Crist says Rick Scott tried to slash school funding by $3.3 billion," March 27, 2014
- Interview, Cheryl Etters, Florida Department of Education spokeswoman, Sept. 18, 2014
- Interview, Ruth Haseman Melton, director of government relations Florida School Boards Association, Sept. 18, 2014
- Interview, Nadine Drew, Broward schools spokeswoman, Sept. 18, 2014
- Interview, Linda Cobbe, Pasco schools spokeswoman, Sept. 18, 2014
- Interview, Antonio Cotarelo, Miami-Dade schools spokesman, Sept. 18, 2014
- Interview, Greg Blair, spokesman Gov. Rick Scott campaign, Sept. 18, 2014