Fact-checking four claims from JB Pritzker and Darren Bailey at the Illinois governor debate
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Gov. JB Pritzker and his Republican challenger, Illinois state Sen. Darren Bailey, held their second and final debate on Wednesday, again trading barbs, and each calling the other an "extremist."
Lots of times the two candidates accused the other of not telling the truth, so we wanted to fact check four comments from the debate.
When discussing state funding for education, Republican challenger Darren Bailey claimed Chicago Public Schools spends $29,000 per student, as he blasted the district for providing a bad education for its kids.
But that figure is simply not correct. CPS spends just over $20,000 per student, a far cry from the $29,000 Bailey claimed.
But Bailey's campaign disputes the per pupil funding number given to us by the Illinois State Board of Education. A campaign spokesperson says they used the total CPS budget figure of $9.4 billion and divided that by the number of enrolled students to get their number.
CBS 2 reached out to CPC for clarification.
According to CPS spokesperson Mary Ann Fergus, the per pupil spending in the district is actually even lower, at $14,782 for fiscal year 2021. She said the Illinois State Board of Education has the most complete and accurate numbers.
Fergus added that she does not believe any district in Illinois, nor the Illinois State Board of Education, calculates per pupil funding the way the Bailey campaign described.
Sticking to education, Gov. JB Pritzker also had a head-scratcher involving schools.
"U.S. News & World Report has named us number one among the top 10 most populous states in the nation for pre-k to 12 education," Pritzker said.
We searched for Illinois at #1 on a U.S. News list, and couldn't find it. Illinois was ranked 6th overall on the U.S. News & World Report ranking of best states for primary education, but Pritzker said Illinois was #1 among the most populous states, and based on that arbitrary disclaimer, it's factually true. But you will not find Illinois ranked #1 on any published U.S. News list.
Also on education, Bailey cited a bad grade given to Illinois public schools.
"Our children are not learning to read and write. I don't know how many times I have to say this, but it's a fact. Wall Street Journal just gave us an F on our education," he said.
Bailey is correct. The Journal cited an opinion piece from their editorial board earlier this month, giving Illinois an F in part for a low number of students able to read at grade level.
Turning to taxes, Pritzker defended his efforts to help fight crime, pointing to his budget plan to increase funding for the Illinois State Police by $18.6 million.
"During COVID, we saw crime increase substantially all across the nation. I take that very seriously. That's why I increased the number of state police. Why we built state of the art crime labs. We eliminated the state's rape kit backlog," he said.
That's all true. This year's state budget includes funding for 300 new Illinois State Police troopers, along with a new forensics lab, and the expansion of two others. The state's backlog of untested rape kits has been eliminated, down from more than 1,800 just a couple years ago.
