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Education Desk
The Education Desk is our education blog focusing on key areas of news coverage important to the state and its improvement. Evidence of public policy performance and impact will be reported and analyzed. We encourage you to engage in commenting and discussing the coverage of education from pre-natal to Higher Ed.Dusty Rhodes curates this blog that will provide follow-up to full-length stories, links to other reports of interest, statistics, and conversations with you about the issues and stories.About - Additional Education Coverage00000179-2419-d250-a579-e41d385d0000

Rauner Campaign Ad Uses Quote About Manar

Screenshot of ad from Citizens For Rauner, Inc.
A campaign ad for Gov. Bruce Rauner uses a quote that actually referred to the efforts of State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill).

A television commercial? now airing for Gov. Bruce Rauner touts the school funding reform legislation he signed into law in August. But the campaign spot is somewhat misleading.

The ad begins: “It's been called nothing short of a miracle.”

If you pause the tape and look closely, you’ll see that line is credited to a story published online Sept. 7 by NPR Illinois.

But that quote, from a longtime education advocate, wasn't about Rauner. It was in reference to the years-long efforts of State Sen. Andy Manar, the downstate Democrat who sponsored the school funding reform bill.

 

Rauner's campaign team excerpted this quote, referencing Manar, for an ad promoting Rauner.

Rauner tried to kill Manar's measure with an amendatory veto, but no one voted for Rauner's plan. The governor ultimately signed a compromise bill, also sponsored by Manar, that included a tax break for private school scholarship donors.

The ad touts that part too, over video that appears to show college graduates tossing their caps in the air. That's also a bit misleading, since the tax breaks apply only to private grade schools, not universities.

The ad ends with the words "Illinois is worth fighting for," which has been the slogan of Congresswoman Cheri Bustos' campaign since 2014.

We sent several emails to the Rauner campaign seeking clarification, but received no response.

 

After a long career in newspapers (Dallas Observer, The Dallas Morning News, Anchorage Daily News, Illinois Times), Dusty returned to school to get a master's degree in multimedia journalism. She began work as Education Desk reporter at NPR Illinois in September 2014.
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