Republican lieutenant governor nominee Dan Patrick has been cited for falsely claiming that he led efforts to increase funding for public schools last year. Patrick, a state senator from Houston, said earlier this month that he “led the charge” to restore education funds that had been lost in a round of budget cuts in 2011. But the Austin American-Statesman’s Politifact analyzed Patrick’s claim and pointed out that he was one of four Republicans in the Senate who voted against the 2013 state budget that increased state funding for schools by $3.4 million.
“It’s not clear to us how someone can lead in putting money back by voting against it,” Politifact said Monday in its analysis, rating Patrick’s claim “Pants on Fire!” The GOP senator also voted for the 2011 budget that cut funding for schools by $5.4 billion, according to the study. A campaign spokesman for the senator claimed that Patrick supported partial restoration of the funding reductions in two earlier votes in 2013, one in a senate committee and the other on the Senate floor. That funding increase was for $1.5 billion, a figure that was increased late in the 2013 session.
Patrick made his claim about leading the charge to restore education funding after a state judge recently overturned Texas’ school finance system, citing among other things the reduced funding levels since 2011. Democrat Leticia Van de Putte, Patrick’s opponent in the lieutenant governor’s race, has roundly criticized the Republican’s claim as false, noting that she opposed the funding cuts of 2011 and supported restoration of much of the state aid last year. Van de Putte, a state senator from San Antonio, is expected to continue her criticism during a televised debate between the two candidates on Sept. 29.