Democratic North Carolina Lawyer Basic Josh Stein’s marketing campaign accused his Republican gubernatorial opponent Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of not caring about instructor pay.
A Stein marketing campaign press launch issued at 9:19 a.m. on Thursday accused Robinson of placing his marketing campaign forward of academics.
“Mark Robinson skips Board of Schooling vote on instructor bonuses to carry marketing campaign occasion,” the headline of the press launch mentioned. The physique of the discharge additionally accused Robinson of lacking the assembly.
Robinson’s attendance at conferences for boards and commissions on which he sits has come beneath scrutiny on the marketing campaign path.
The Atlantic reported Aug. 30 that Robinson hadn’t attended any conferences of the North Carolina Navy Affairs Fee since getting into workplace in 2021.
And early this 12 months, Republican State Treasurer Dale Folwell known as out Robinson’s scant attendance at State Board of Neighborhood Faculties conferences. When Robinson confirmed as much as a gathering of the board in January, it was a primary, in line with Folwell, who additionally sits on the board.
“Hell froze over!” Folwell, who was campaigning in opposition to Robinson for the GOP nomination on the time, mentioned on social media.
And Robinson has attended simply over half of State Board of Schooling conferences, in line with information collected by WRAL.
So we puzzled:
- Did Robinson skip Thursday’s Board of Schooling assembly?
- What did the board vote on?
- And did Robinson miss the vote?
We discovered Stein’s press launch to be deceptive — it omitted essential particulars about Robinson’s participation and what the board voted on.
Attendance: Robinson was not bodily current on the board’s 9 a.m. assembly in Raleigh Thursday. Robinson had a marketing campaign occasion in Mooresville scheduled for a similar time — however he known as in to the assembly at 9:15 a.m., in line with Jeanie McDowell, a spokesperson for the Division of Public Instruction.
Trixie MacNeill, 21, a pupil at Davidson Faculty, informed Politifact NC that she was on the occasion. She shared movies of Robinson that she says she took at 9:18 a.m. Round that point, in Raleigh, the board was recognizing a gaggle of academics, organizing them for a sequence of images. The board then took a break and reconvened round 9:52 a.m.
Instructor bonuses: Some may interpret the Stein marketing campaign’s press launch headline to imply that the board voted on whether or not academics would obtain bonuses. That’s not the case. The board doesn’t have the authority to grant bonuses. The board reviewed a research of previous instructor bonuses that was ready by DPI employees. The 37-page report describes bonuses issued to academics in prior college years. It particulars how academics certified for bonuses, how massive the bonuses had been, and which authorities entities issued the bonuses.
“The information offered on this report are descriptive in nature,” McDowell, the DPI spokesperson, mentioned in an electronic mail. “Any analyses carried out by NCDPI employees are correlational and don’t point out a causal relationship between the bonus monies and any measure of instructor effectiveness, retention, or different outcomes of curiosity.”
The vote: The research was a part of the board’s consent agenda, which was introduced up for a vote on the finish of the assembly. The board posted a video of its assembly on-line. The instructor bonus research was listed as merchandise “BSOP 6.” About two hours into the assembly, a board member motioned to approve “BSOP one via 9.” Robinson can then be heard, on the telephone, voting “yea.” On account of the board’s vote, the instructor bonus research will now be despatched to the Basic Meeting, McDowell mentioned.
Mike Lonergan, a spokesperson for Robinson’s marketing campaign, mentioned Stein’s press launch is “a blatant lie and pure misinformation.”
Kate Frauenfelder, a spokesperson for the Stein marketing campaign, mentioned: “On the time the discharge was despatched, the State Board of Schooling was assembly in Raleigh and Lieutenant Governor Robinson was two and a half hours away campaigning.”
Our ruling
The Stein marketing campaign mentioned Robinson “skips Board of Schooling vote on instructor bonuses to carry marketing campaign occasion.”
Robinson wasn’t bodily current on the assembly in Raleigh, however attended by calling in. The vote was associated to a research on instructor bonuses — and whether or not to approve the research — and never whether or not to approve bonuses. When the board ordered a roll name vote, Robinson voted “yea” to approving the report.
The assertion comprises a component of reality in that Robinson was on the marketing campaign path, and never bodily current on the State Board of Schooling assembly, however it ignores essential info that might give a unique impression. He voted on the merchandise associated to instructor bonuses. We fee this declare Principally False.
