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Friday, August 25, 2006
Perdue’s education ad
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
REALITY CHECK: An occasional look at the credibility of campaign claims.
“Test scores are going up, class sizes are going down.� Gov. Sonny Perdue’s campaign says this television ad is running statewide.
Sponsor: Gov. Sonny Perdue re-election campaign
The ad: The ad begins with the face of a white, crew-cutted teen and an annoucer saying, “For too long, no one did enough to improve education in Georgia … until Sonny did.â€?
Then, interspersed with shots of Perdue and school children, including one holding a University of Georgia football helmet, the announcer credits the governor for taking driver’s licenses away from bad-behaving kids, says test scores have improved while class sizes are going down, that teachers are higher paid and that Perdue put $1 billion in extra funding into education.
The scene then pans back to the white, crew-cutted youngster, and asks, “Why would we ever go back?�
The reality: Perdue won office in 2002 in part because of teacher anger over a comprehensive set of school reform laws passed by his predecessor, Roy Barnes. Those reforms, and the “No Child Left Behind� federal law, were too new to have shown any significant improvement in school performance by 2002.
Perdue pushed lawmakers to pass legislation allowing the state to revoke the licenses of students who commit serious offenses or miss school too often.
Some test scores, like the college-entrance SAT, have improved, but they were improving before Perdue took office. Last year, Georgia’s average SAT score was still tied for last place with South Carolina.
Perdue stalled class-size reductions passed under Barnes, saying the state couldn’t afford the changes, until this year. Class sizes are supposed to be smaller now, but local systems say the strict new limits Perdue demanded are causing them higher salary costs and loss of classroom space without the needed funding.
Teacher pay has risen less during Perdue’s 3 1/2 years in office than in the terms of the two previous governors, Miller and Barnes. Perdue put an extra $1 billion into education this year, after cutting more than $1 billion in the three previous years.
Watch the ad: www.votesonny.com
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