by David Safier
Republicans love to throw out facts and figures when they're interviewed or when they're giving speeches. The more the better, the more specific the better. The average family isn't about 3 people. It's 2.7 people. Vic Williams' absurd assertion about the amount spent on administration in Amphi isn't "about half." It's "47 cents of every dollar."
Rapid fire factoid citing is a great political ploy. First, it makes it sound like everything you say is based on cold, hard facts. And if you intone it with that confident tone that says, "What more proof do you need?" it goes a long way toward convincing people you know what you're talking about.
And who has enough facts at their fingertips to challenge the Republican's numbers? They go by in a blur, and unless you've studied up on those specific stats, you can't say for certain they're wrong.
Democrats don't use that strategy nearly as regularly or effectively.
Williams' Arizona Illustrated discussion with Daniel Patterson is a classic example. Williams didn't even have to look down as he ran through his dubious factoids. He knew them by rote.
Now, if you know Williams' educational history, you'll understand that scholarship and school work aren't his forte. But he's clearly been drilled on the facts, how to present them and how to return to them instead of answering a challenging question. It's a carefully scripted performance created by better minds than Williams'. He learned it by taking Palin's advice: Drill, Baby, Drill.
I was able to catch Williams is his "Bus Drivers are Administrators" lie because that's one where I've got the facts down cold. If he got that one so wildly wrong, I'm assuming lots of his other factoids were distortions or outright fabrications. If one link on the factoid chain is that badly broken, I'm sure it's one of many.
But he and other Republicans and their operatives get away with it on a daily basis. And too often the media, insecure about not knowing enough to challenge the factoids, repeat them as if there's something behind them.
I’m writing this after watching the Prop 100 returns, and I’m wondering if politicians like Williams are now reconsidering their use of invented special interest stats. It certainly appears that parents are paying attention these days, and I’m willing to bet that most of us are looking for a more honest approach to improving our schools.
If anyone reads this and thinks that the “1:1” ratio or that “47 cents on the dollar” claim might be accurate, you can check it out for yourself.
Visit the following link and click Superintendent’s Report FY2008-2009. Volume 2 lists all of the annual financial records for districts in our state. http://www.ade.state.az.us/AnnualReport/AnnualReport2009/
Amphi schools can be found on page I-181 (185 in pdf). Their numbers of FY08-09:
–Total full time teachers: 996
–Total teacher’s aides: 202
–Total administrators: 49
–Total ‘managers’: 25
They also list a number of positions under ‘others’. That category includes certified teachers for ESL, reading, etc., librarians, counselors and other folks who work directly with kids in the classroom. It also includes bus drivers, custodians, part-time food service workers, computer techs and other folks who keep our schools running.
Bottom line: the 74 positions that are listed as administrative or management in Amphi schools represent just 3% of the total employee base.
In addition, the Amphi schools publishes their comprehensive budget and fiscal reports here: http://www.amphi.com/departments/finance/reports.html
This isn’t a casual read, but I would certainly be familiar with these financial reports if I were elected to represent the families of the 16,000+ kids attending Amphi schools.
The Merriam-Webster Online dictionary defines factoid as
1 : an invented fact believed to be true because of its appearance in print
2 : a briefly stated and usually trivial fact
That’s the sense in which I was using the word. So many political “facts” are somewhere between spin and outright deception, they can’t be accepted on face value. As someone who has looked at AZ Republican factoids about education, I can tell you they usually go from deceptive to wrong.
Is factoid actually a word or are you using that with irony? The facts and figures approach is actually a tried and tested bs move used by politicians worldwide. Just turns out that republicans have got more bs than anyone else.