Why do MI residents falsely believe education spending is down?

By Tom Gantert | Michigan Capitol Confidential

In three of her last four budgets, Gov. Jennifer Granholm cut state funding to K-12 schools.

In Gov. Rick Snyder’s first four budgets, he has increased state funding to K-12 schools, up to a record $12 billion in 2014-15, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency.

So how is Gov. Snyder being tagged by critics as the villain who has cut funding to school children?

The answer lies in how the complicated nature of school funding has been the most misunderstood story reported in the media, as well as a campaign to portray schools as underfunded.

“If you repeat a lie long enough, people begin to believe it,” said Charles Owens, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. “The MEA and other apologists for the previous administration continue to repeat that lie. A lot of school superintendents continue to repeat that lie. And it’s a lie because it doesn’t consider total funding.”

at Michigan Capitol Confidential.