Contact: TJ Helmstetter, tjh@wisdems.org
Walker’s relying on a math error to attack Tony Evers. And the Wisconsin State Journal just issued a correction proving it.
RESPONSE FROM DPW:
“The newspaper made a mistake. Mistakes happen. But Scott Walker should have known better than to use this mistake to his advantage. He knew exactly what the numbers were but chose to promote false information anyway.
“Once again, Scott Walker shows himself to be the typical politician he is. Walker has spent eight years putting his personal ambitions ahead of the needs of the state. He played politics instead of funding our schools. Now, voters are rejecting him, and he’s running desperately to save his political career.”
— TJ Helmstetter, DPW spokesperson for 2018 gubernatorial election
FACTS:
Let’s walk through each step:
Earlier today, Scott Walker tweeted a passage from a February 6, 2017 story in the Wisconsin State Journal that said his education proposal provided $227 million more than Tony Evers had asked for.
This claim was false. Turns out, a reporter made a math mistake. Today, that mistake was found, and the original story has been updated to reflect the correct numbers. This is how that section was updated:
Evers actually proposed $1.1 billion more than Walker in “general and categorical aid” (all state spending directed at supporting k-12 schools) according to the updated reporting.
Important Note: Our own math shows that when only looking at school aid, which is the standard used by the Fiscal Bureau, Tony Evers proposed $706 million, while Walker only requested $648 million — that’s $58 million more than Walker in aid to schools.
Beware that Walker will try to inflate that number by including $174 million for something called the “School Levy Tax Credit” — an accounting gimmick that acts as a property tax rebate for all expenses, not funding for schools.
