A $300 million fact check

By W. Gardner Selby
Published on Wednesday, January 9th, 2013 at 10:14 a.m.

Related rulings:

Says Texas has the 15th largest economy in the world.

Texas secession petition, Friday, November 9th, 2012.

Ruling: True | Details

Says a voter-adopted constitutional amendment "instructed" a state board headed by Jerry Patterson to put $300 million in investment earnings into a fund supporting public school operations.  

Progress Texas, Friday, September 7th, 2012.

Ruling: Mostly False | Details

Says a portfolio managed by the Texas General Land Office earned 22 percent last year while the state’s emergency reserve account experienced a 1 percent gain.  

Jerry Patterson, Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012.

Ruling: Mostly True | Details

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State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, takes her oath surrounded by family members at the start of the 2013 legislative session Jan. 8, 2013 (Austin American-Statesman, Rodolfo Gonzalez).

Lawmakers opened the 2013 legislative session with Speaker Joe Straus saying Texas would have the world’s 14th-largest economy if it was a nation, echoing recent research in our corner.

Perhaps more eventfully, a state board headed by Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson voted to release $300 million for public schools.

We earlier checked a group’s claim that a constitutional amendment instructed the board to free the money, a characterization that we rated Mostly False. Also, we’d looked into Patterson’s claim about investment gains on a state-overseen portfolio, which came out Mostly True.

The vote doubled as a reminder that not all consequential actions take place under the pink dome, even during legislative sessions.

What else?