How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
The Truth-O-Meter this week looked at campaign claims by Gov. Nathan Deal on cuts to Georgia’s popular pre-k program and U.S. Rep. Paul Broun that two of his opponents in the U.S. Senate race are going to extremes to make sure he doesn’t appear to be the biggest conservative in the race.
PolitiFact Georgia also looked into claims about the difficulty of the mandatory, high-stakes CRCT test by Alisha Thomas Morgan, a candidate in the crowded race for state school superintendent. And former President Jimmy Carter was part of a fact check on the wage gap between men and women.
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
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Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
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Gov. Nathan Deal: Restoring Georgia pre-k to a 180-day program was a “real result” of his leadership
In his re-election bid, Deal takes credit on his campaign website for restoring Georgia’s nationally lauded and lottery-funded pre-kindergarten program to its traditional 180 days a year, calling it a “real result” of his tenure..
And why wouldn’t he? Every year, thousands of Georgia parents who might otherwise be paying for child care are sending their 4-year-olds to free pre-k in 3,800 classes statewide.
Deal, a Republican, became Georgia’s governor in January 2011 and quickly took on a subject that lawmakers had been discussing but largely sidestepping: With revenue from lottery tickets falling and program expenses rising, could HOPE and pre-k survive for the long term?
Deal proposed converting pre-k from a full-day to a part-day program, but he abandoned that proposal after a public outcry. As an alternative, he asked lawmakers to reduce the pre-k school year from 180 to 160 days, for a savings estimated at $22 million a year.
The governor also recommended cutting more than 300 pre-k classes across the state, forcing some teachers out of jobs and requiring those that remained to take on extra students. Lawmakers went along.
Deal subsequently recommended — and lawmakers approved — restoring 10 days to the 2012-2013 pre-k school year and returning to the traditional 180-day school year for the current school year. The larger class sizes, resulting in an estimated $30 million annual savings, remain.
The governor was the driving force behind the push to reinstate the days to Georgia pre-k. But he also initiated the cuts, and they had consequences, including the loss of experienced teachers. Those are important details that Deal doesn’t mention.
We rated Deal’s statement as Half True.
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U.S. Rep. Paul Broun: Says U.S. Reps. Phil Gingrey and Jack Kingston have “even changed votes to what I voted, multiple times.”
To hear Broun tell it, he could be the pied piper of Capitol Hill.
“It’s become a joke in Congress how Dr. (Phil) Gingrey and Mr. (Jack) Kingston have been following my votes,” Broun, R-Athens, told The Daily Beast, a news and lifestyle website. “They’ve even changed votes to what I voted, multiple times. Members of Congress are laughing about it.”
The three, rivals for the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate, have voted the same way all but a handful of times since 2013. But to the claim they’re intentionally following Broun’s lead, Kingston and Gingrey say, no way.
To make his case, Broun cited a vote on an aid package for Ukraine. His seatmate, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., told PolitiFact that Broun told him he was going to vote yes for the bill and then switch his vote at the last moment. Massie said he witnessed Kingston immediately change his vote from yes to no..
Massie said Broun’s prediction makes a strong argument about Kingston’s motives.
“I cannot tell you why (Kingston) changed his vote, but I can tell you he changed it after Paul Broun voted and Paul Broun predicted it would happen,” Massie said.
The Broun campaign also directed us to news coverage to support his argument, including a March 2013 article on the news site Politico. It said Broun was “yanking much of the congressional delegation to the right and throwing their votes and the support of leadership into a daily flux.”
Broun’s evidence is thin. We rated his claim Mostly False.
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Former President Jimmy Carter: Women in the U.S. get 23 percent less pay than men for the same exact work.
The former president was promoting his new book, “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power” when he spoke to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on March 24. “In the United States for the same exact work for a full-time employee, women get 23 percent less pay than men,” Carter said.
Experts agree there is a gender-based wage gap. But it is not as simple as it seems. Differences in the life choices of men and women — such as women tending to leave the workforce when they have children — and other factors make it difficult to make simple comparisons.
The number Carter used in his TV interview comes from a U.S. Census Bureau study that looked at the total wages earned by male and female workers. The study found women’s total wages were about 23 percent less than the total amount of men’s wages. But that large discrepancy was due in part to the fact that men generally work more hours. The study did not attempt to look at equal pay for the same work or the same number of hours worked.
The number does not take into account critical factors that could influence the figure, including specific occupation, time on the job and education level.
And the gap drops dramatically if you compare men and women of similar education levels, job titles, time on the job and other relevant factors. One survey, prepared for the Labor Department, found that when such differences are accounted for, the hourly wage gap shrinks to the low single digits.
We rated Carter’s statement Mostly False.
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State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, D-Austell: “In order to pass the CRCT in Georgia, you simply have to get half of the answers correct.”
Georgia public school students in grades 3 through 8 are required to take the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test in reading, English/language arts, math, science and social studies. Students in grades 3, 5 and 8 must meet or exceed state standards in reading to be promoted to the next grade. Fifth- and eighth-graders must also meet or exceed state standards in math to be promoted.
Morgan, who is running for state schools superintendent, was referring to the “cut scores” to meet state standards, said Michael Brewer, her deputy campaign manager.
Cut scores vary from subject area and grade level. Georgia has two sets of cut scores: one for students who meet state standards and another for students who exceed the standards.
In order to meet state standards, students have to get only about one-half of the answers correct in a content area. Georgia students must get at least 75 percent to 80 percent of the answers correct in order to exceed state standards.
Brewer sent us an article with the scores for the 2011-12 school year. The numbers show the cut scores were 50 percent or less in 16 of the 30 subjects for the six grade levels, also known as content areas. The highest pass rate was for third-grade math, at 57 percent.
The Georgia Department of Education sent us cut scores for 2012 and 2013. The 2013 cut scores were slightly different than what was in the article Brewer sent us, but they support Morgan’s claim. The cut scores were 50 percent or less in 17 of the 30 content areas. The highest cut score was for fourth-grade math, at 58 percent. In 2013, the cut scores were 50 percent or less in 18 of the 30 content areas. The highest cut score was for third- and fourth-grade math, at 57 percent.
Morgan said “in order to pass the CRCT in Georgia, you simply have to get half of the answers correct.” In slightly more than half of the subjects for grades 3 through 8, she’s correct.
We rated Morgan’s statement Mostly True.
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