Sen. Jean Carnahan and Missouri Teachers Deliver Report Card on Blunt’s Education Record
Carnahan presented Mr. Blunt with a report card chock-full of failing grades. “In history, Matt Blunt earns an ‘F,’ for trying to rewrite his own flawed record. Matt Blunt said he supported education while running for the state legislature, but then voted against it once elected. Now, running for governor, Blunt is once again promising more funding for education, but he can’t be trusted to protect funding for Missouri schoolchildren,” former Senator Jean Carnahan said this morning.
According to Carnahan, one of the most telling pieces of information about Matt Blunt’s stance on education is his support for a bill that would have dismantled Missouri’s Outstanding Schools Act in order to give tax breaks to corporations and Missouri families that on average earned more than $193,000 a year. The legislation Blunt proposed while a member of the legislature would have taken $516.3 million annually out of Missouri classrooms to pay for these tax breaks. (Blunt proposed HB1034 in 1999 and HB1390 in 2000.) For this legislation, Senator Carnahan awarded Mr. Blunt an “F,” for Math.
The Outstanding Schools Act, passed in 1993 with bi-partisan support, was the crowning achievement of Gov. Mel Carnahan, who affectionately became known to Missourians as “The Education Governor.”
Carnahan noted that Blunt seemed to be making an election year conversion when it comes to the issue of education. Carnahan urged Show-Me State voters to look past political rhetoric and examine the candidates’ records. “There’s what Matt Blunt says about education, and there’s what he’s done to education,” Carnahan said.
Carnahan praised the work Claire McCaskill has done as a prosecutor, legislator and State Auditor and noted that in all of these jobs McCaskill made supporting children and schools her top priority.
“As Governor, she’ll put more money into the classroom by providing incentives to schools to cut administrative waste,” Carnahan said. “She’ll work to raise teachers’ salaries and encourage parental involvement.”
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