Get out your calculator as PolitiFact Wisconsin tries to unpack Gov. Scott Walker's funding for public schools. Did he really cut more than $1 billion?
Tony Evers is one of more than a dozen Democrats who want to unseat Walker this year.
The state schools superintendent is going after the two-term governor's education record.
"Evers says that Gov. Walker has taken over $1billion from public schools despite some recent funding increases," said Tom Kertscher with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
That's a big number, so let's walk you through the budget cuts. PolitiFact Wisconsin says the starting point is $5.27 billion. That's how much the state-funded schools during Gov. Jim Doyle's last budget.
PolitiFact Wisconsin says Walker's school funding dropped below Doyle's number for the next five years for a total of $1.17 billion.
"The way Evers measures it, is that under the first five years under Walker, the funding didn't reach the level that it was under Doyle," said Kertscher. "If you add all those years together, it's $1 billion less for public schools."
However, PolitiFact Wisconsin says if you look at Walker's last three school funding budgets - which were all higher than Doyle's last budget, the math changes.
"If you carry out the increases he (Walker) has put in for his entire time in office, the deficit is only about $183 million," said Kertscher.
One caveat from PolitiFact Wisconsin. Walker says he gave school districts the quote "tools" to recoup their losses with Act 10 which among other things allowed school districts to save money by requiring employees to pay a greater share of their health insurance.
PolitiFact Wisconsin rated Evers claim Mostly False.
