Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (with apologies to Al Franken)

Blogs, Letters & Testimonials

June 22, 2012

By Charles Barone, DFER Director of Federal Policy

In the book with the above title, then-comedian/commentator and now-Senator and Senate Education Committee member Al Franken raked right-wing prevaricators like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter over the coals. Why? Well for lying about things for which there was clear and incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. I think Diane Ravitch is moving quickly to Limbaugh/Coulter status when it comes to education. She may be there already.

In a blog post from Monday, Ravitch stated:

“Isn’t it strange that you never see a group like ‘Education Reform Now’ or ‘Democrats for Education Reform’…. advocating for smaller classes or more librarians or a reversal of budget cuts.” [emphasis added]

“I might begin to think they wanted real reform if just once in a while they supported something that benefited hard-working teachers and community public schools, and not their self-interested agenda of privately-managed charters.”

In an act of astounding sycophancy, Alexander Russo played blogospheric telephone by posting Ravitch’s comment with the following headline: “Quotes: Why Don’t Reformers Fight For School Funding?”

I think I read that it was Abraham Lincoln who first said, “Don’t believe everything you see on the internet.” And I’m almost positive it was Daniel Patrick Moynihan who said, “everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts,” although admittedly some attribute the quote to politician James R. Schleshinger, and others still to financier and FDR-advisor Bernard Baruch.

At any rate, it’s in this spirit that we briefly run down some basic facts – illustrative rather than exhaustive – about DFER, ERN, and education funding:

November 7th, 2008 – DFER ‘s Transition Memo to the Obama team recommended:

“The big-picture goal [in the first 100 days] should be to exceed [George W.] Bush’s first year increase in key education programs. Title I funding (NCLB) increased 19% in the first year of the Bush Administration. So an increase in the 20% + range would be required to claim the mantle of ‘largest education funding increase in history.’ Coupled with evidence of an Obama Administration’s commitment to reform, President Obama could credibly say that his Administration will support schools more and demand more from them, than any administration in history.” (See here.)

What happened after? Obama blew the Bush increase away with a record $100 billion for education well within his first hundred days. Ninety-five percent of those funds were allocated across the board, from childcare and Head Start to class size reduction and school libraries to student loans and Pell Grants. A tiny sliver, 5%, was set-aside for education reform.