In the campaign already underway for the California Governorship, both sides are cranking up the rhetoric. Phil Angelides recently criticized Governor Schwarzenegger’s performance with regard to education in the state. The Governor’s camp produced this in response:
Fresno schools Superintendent Dr. Peter Mehas issued the following statement:
“As an educator of 44 years, I am disappointed that Phil Angelides continues to bring his negativity and pessimism to one of the most important issues to Californians — education funding.
“Like a typical politician, he is distorting the facts by using data from 2003 to talk about our schools. Angelides ignores that Governor Schwarzenegger has put unprecedented amounts of funding towards educating our students. Two years in a row he raised per-pupil funding, bringing it to over $11,000, which is more than $1,400 higher than just two years ago. Governor Schwarzenegger is fully funding our schools, while Phil Angelides offers no real plan — just his promises for higher taxes.”
Dr. Peter G. Mehas is the Superintendent of the Fresno County Office of Education.
Image: Phil Angelides using deceptive data
(note: image was not a part of the Schwarzenegger release.)