WUI (Writing under the influence)

Oregonians support school choice. But the Oregonian conveniently omits this part of the Chalkboard Project report and instead quotes false statistics:

As long as Oregon chooses to spend less per child than the national average on public education, schools need to invest their money very, very carefully.

A while ago, I mentioned that it's a pretty stupid goal. First, some school districts, like D.C. for example, increase the national average by burning money faster than some startups during the dot-com boom. Second, as soon as Oregon starts spending more, the national average will go up and some other state may come to the same conclusion. Pretty soon, we'll have a full-blown arm school budget race on our hands.

Then, the Oregonian comes up with this:

This is something most people in Oregon can agree on, whether they think K-12 schools are starving for money or bloated with cash.

How can most people in Oregon agree on this if they think schools are bloated with cash?

But it you read the first quote more carefully, you will notice that the Oregonian doesn't say what the national average is and how much less the state of Oregon actually spends.

So I went back to my post from January and found this:

Here, in Oregon, we spend almost $8,000 per pupil, which is slightly higher than the national average of $7,734.

OK, I will give the Oregonian the benefit of a doubt. Maybe the numbers have changed slightly since January and now Oregon really spends below the national average. But we can't be much off so I really think the Oregonian makes too big a deal out of the numbers to cover up what's really important:

[I]n a 2004 statewide poll of 1,800 Oregonians, residents strongly supported more school choice options [so] [the Chalkboard Project] also proposes expanding Oregon's charter schools law, to allow universities, community colleges and neighboring school districts to charter a nontraditional public school.

Only then can you come back and ask me for more money.