Politico.com reviews a number of governor’s races around the country, and here is the takeaway: governors who cut education funding are on the defensive, even insisting that they didn’t do it.
Consider this:
” The fight is fierce in Pennsylvania, where Democratic challenger Tom Wolf is accusing Gov. Tom Corbett of cutting $1 billion in education funding, forcing 20,000 teachers out of the classroom and prompting 70 percent of school districts to increase class sizes [http://bit.ly/1llmers]. Corbett has countered with an ad accusing Wolf “and his special-interest groups” of spending millions to mislead the public, claiming that funding during his tenure as governor has increased each year to its highest level ever [ http://bit.ly/1rs9rXY%5D. But it’s Wolf who’s resonating with voters – he’s up about 17 percentage points in the polls [http://bit.ly/1rsawPz].
“- Check out this new roundup of campaign trail reaction to GOP governors who’ve cut education funding, exclusive to POLITICO [http://politico.pro/1wLJO4C]. American Bridge President Brad Woodhouse tells us governors like Rick Scott, Sam Brownback and Scott Walker are getting “slammed … dealing a major blow to their electoral futures.”
On California it is a close race for state superintendent between educator Tom Torlakson and investment bbanker-charter cheerleader Mardhall The fight is fierce in Pennsylvania, where Democratic challenger Tom Wolf is accusing Gov. Tom Corbett of cutting $1 billion in education funding, forcing 20,000 teachers out of the classroom and prompting 70 percent of school districts to increase class sizes [http://bit.ly/1llmers]. Corbett has countered with an ad accusing Wolf “and his special-interest groups” of spending millions to mislead the public, claiming that funding during his tenure as governor has increased each year to its highest level ever [ http://bit.ly/1rs9rXY%5D. But it’s Wolf who’s resonating with voters – he’s up about 17 percentage points in the polls [http://bit.ly/1rsawPz].
– Check out this new roundup of campaign trail reaction to GOP governors who’ve cut education funding, exclusive to POLITICO [http://politico.pro/1wLJO4C]. American Bridge President Brad Woodhouse tells us governors like Rick Scott, Sam Brownback and Scott Walker are getting “slammed … dealing a major blow to their electoral futures.”
In California, it is a right race for superintendent between educator Tom Torlakson and privatizer Marshall Tuck. The future if public education in that state hangs in the balance. If Tuck wins, expect more charter schools and attacks in due process rights for teachers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The education fight is on here in Arizona with Ducey and Duval. See: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/09/28/arizona-candidates-ducey-duval-debate-abrk/16410511/
Ducey–Republican wants school choice and keeps saying how we have some of the best-rated charters in all the state like Basis. Duval wants school choice, but more funding to go to public schools. I disagree with both, but Duval would be better than Ducey. We’re back to choosing the lesser of two evils. I’m happy education is at the fore front but not always for the right reasons.
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Snyder ran one in Michigan as well. A retired teacher says he increased education spending every year in office. That might be true but only because he slashed it so viciously in his first year. I suspect that counts community college and pre-K which got significant boosts while K-12 got nothing.
The ad goes on to say that he shored up the pension fund. It fails to mention that he basically forced those of us in the 10-25 years of experience range to pay more than double the previous rate. (And financial advisers told all in that range that a 401(k) was a bad idea once we had paid in for that long.) Snyder shored up the fund by jacking up the rate rather than a shift in spending. (And let’s not forget that the encouragement of charter schools will continue to debilitate the fund as fewer and fewer teachers pay into it over time. Pensions tend to be pay-as-you-go systems. There will be another pension crisis real soon I’m sure.)
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Anyone know about Kansas, is education driving that? They had a teacher protest that didn’t get a lot of coverage, and I suspect the political backlash is related to the “gut and privatize” plan for public schools from the ed reform crowd.
Good job, teachers! Throw the bums out 🙂
It’s a shame teachers are doing all the heavy lifting. More public school parents in these states should step up.
http://www.kmbc.com/news/teachers-protest-against-brownback-at-kansas-statehouse/26039984
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In NY the current governor doesn’t “cater to the teacher’s union”.
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Andrew Cuomo doesn’t like public schools or their teachers or their unions. He likes charter schools, which enroll 3% of the children in New York.
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Don’t forget Malloy.
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