PolitiFact.com
Statements about Education
Charlie Hales

Charlie Hales

False

He's helped schools, just not in 2003

Says "I worked with our Mayor and other commissioners to help save the school year when a budget crisis in Salem threatened to cut four weeks of the school year," including  negotiating with teachers to work for free.

Jefferson Smith

Jefferson Smith

Mostly True

Some of those tax breaks are off limits.

Says "at the state level we're spending more on tax expenditures than we are on public safety, health care and education combined."

Ron Wyden

Ron Wyden

True

College has been getting more expensive for a long time

"Between 1982 and 2007 the cost of a college education increased 439 percent."

Ben Cannon

Ben Cannon

True

He's right; there's a connection

Says "if we raise the number of third-graders who read at a third-grade level, we affect everything, from graduation rates to incarceration rates."

Creative Advocacy Network

Creative Advocacy Network

Mostly True

No classes, but there are other programs

Says 77 percent "of Portland's students finish elementary school without taking even one art class."

Oregon Education Association

Oregon Education Association

Mostly True

The final bill did not

House Bill 2301 never had a public hearing

Portland Public Schools

Portland Public Schools

Half-True

Only if you don't include stimulus money

Per-student K-12 state funding for Portland Public Schools has dipped from $6,036 in the 2007-2008 school year to $5,644 in the 2010-2011 school year

Mark Hass

Mark Hass

False

Three for the price of one? A deal too good to be true

"For every one ESD superintendent position, we can pay for three speech pathologists, or three special needs instructors, or three classroom teachers."

Michael Denbrow

Michael Denbrow

Mostly False

An affidavit is not an application

Undocumented students who qualify for in-state Oregon tuition are "actively working toward U.S. citizenship."

Shawn Lindsay

Shawn Lindsay

Mostly False

Only if you ignore the federal money the state spent

Says John Kitzhaber’s proposed budget for upcoming biennium represents 8 percent increase over last

Dan Lucas

Dan Lucas

Mostly False

No agencies were pitted against each other

"Governor’s proposed budget raids K-12 school funds to grow DHS again."

Dave Hunt

Dave Hunt

True

The pain would be spread around

Says "every school will be negatively impacted" if Education Stability Fund is not tapped.

John Kitzhaber

John Kitzhaber

Mostly True

In this case, more is still less

Says his state budget will "provide an increase in state funding for the 2011-12 school year."

Rees Lloyd

Rees Lloyd

Mostly False

Quite a mouthful but not really right

Portland Public Schools invites "well-paid, well-fed school bureaucrats, administrators, teachers, other staff, non-needy students, affluent parents of students, and other adults, including on the other extreme the adult homeless, illegal aliens, fanatical Muslim terrorists, or drug addicted street people, to enjoy cheap breakfasts in taxpayer-paid school facilities amidst school children."

Mt. Hood Community College

Mt. Hood Community College

Mostly True

MHCC is No. 1

Mt. Hood Community College is No. 1 on average and top faculty pay and benefits. 

City of Beaverton

City of Beaverton

False

A record for Beaverton, but sadly not for Oregon

Last year, Beaverton School District had the highest number of homeless students ever recorded in Oregon. 

Carole Smith

Carole Smith

Pants on Fire!

Maybe in a theoretical world with theoretical enrollment

Rebuilding three high schools will benefit 40 percent of Portland Public School students. 

Portland Community College

Portland Community College

False

Back to the drawing board

Portland Community College serves more students than all of the state’s universities combined.

Chris Dudley

Chris Dudley

Mostly True

Dudley gets a passing grade

Says Oregon ranks 43rd in education.

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