This past weekend, Democratic State House Rep. Jeff Irwin from Ann Arbor debated Governor Snyder’s $1 billion in cuts to education funding with Republican Pete Lund on Fox News’ Let It Rip program. Lund used the argument that shoring up the teachers pension fund is “education funding”. Irwin pointed to the diversion of money from classrooms and teaching and higher education out of the School Aid Fund saying, “It’s not paying for books, it’s not paying for teachers.”
And he is exactly right. Ask any teacher or any school board member if they have more or less money to use in the classroom to teach children. The answer is, of course, no.
Lund kept saying Democrats need to “put an asterix” on their ads. When Republicans are resorting to that sort of response, you know Democrats are getting their message through.
Pete Lund (R-#ALEC) says Edu cuts "Granholm/Schauer's fault" – forgets was deal(s) between (Snyder's) Dillon & Bishop in #MILeg @Eclectablog
— Hector Solon (@HectorSolon) October 7, 2014
Here’s the segment:
Irwin issued this statement after his appearance on Let It Rip:
Gov. Snyder cut $1 billion in 2011, but that understates the problem. He also cut taxes on corporations, costing the School Aid Fund $700 million a year and he annually raids the Student Aid Fund for hundreds of millions for higher education. It’s not just the $1 billion, it’s the billions he’s sucked out of the Student Aid Fund for his top priority: tax cuts for corporations.
This is a winning issue for Democrats and they have done an outstanding job of educating voters about education funding. It’s the main reason that education is Mark Schauer’s number one priority.
