When a liberal newspaper tells you it is setting the record straight, watch out.
An editorial with such a headline was in the St. Augustine Record recently, yet the content beneath the headline did anything but.
The editorial accused Florida Gov. Rick Scott of devastating the schools by vicious budget cutbacks and then lying by saying he was increasing funding next year.
Hold on.
Scott said he wanted school funding to increase next year and it will -- if the Legislature adopts Scott's proposed budget.
Scott duly noted that the state funding had been trimmed slightly when the state's revenue was down during the Obama regime's jobless recovery. Florida is one of the states bucking the national trend, thanks in no small part to Scott's pro-business, pro-taxpayer approach.
But the real problem with the editorial is that it didn't address the only thing that matters: How are the students doing?
According to the school district, pretty well.
St. Johns students have been the No. 1 school in the state on FCAT scores for the past four years, according to the district superintendent. Furthermore, the percentage of graduates ready for college is considerably higher than the statewide average.
Unfortunately, the opinion writers at the Record fell into the same old liberal trap of equating spending money with educating children. They failed to cite any evidence of a correlation because they have none.
They laughably accuse Scott of taking money away from the schools.
Schools have no money except what the taxpayers give them. Making it sound as though Scott is an armed robber can't change that fact.
The Record editorial writers then compounded their error by implying that schools only have state funds. Public schools also receive local and federal funds.
St. Johns County public schools spent $207 million in operating funds in 2010, the year Scott was elected. The growing district is spending $231 million this year.
Actually, St. Johns school officials appear to be doing a reasonably good job of producing results for the taxpayers with the resources they have.
For example, they saved millions by trimming their energy costs. Wouldn't you think tree-huggers would give them kudos for that?
Elected officials who can produce results at the lowest possible cost to the people footing the bill deserve a little applause.
Newspapers should be praising state leaders for being fiscally responsible and also local school districts that are coping as well as St. Johns County.
Floridians expect the liberal media to berate Scott and the Republican majority in the Legislature, and also to endorse Scott's opponent next year no matter who that might be. However, the media should not expect the public to fall for their attempts to muddle the record while purporting to set it straight.
Lloyd Brown was in the newspaper business nearly 50 years, beginning as a copy boy and retiring as editorial page editor of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. After retirement he served as speech writer for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
