Editorial: True facts

Using incomplete or incorrect ‘facts’ to make his points is damaging the credibility of the Kansas governor.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s sloppy — or calculated — misuse of various figures to illustrate his administration’s successes is taking a toll on his credibility.

Fortunately, political reporters are taking a harder look at the governor’s “facts” and shedding light on cherry-picked data and faulty comparisons.

The latest instance was last week when the governor decided to defend his education policies by touting the “fact” that the average teacher salary in Kansas was significantly higher than the average in neighboring Missouri. Saying that “we need more facts in the education debate,” Brownback presented a chart showing that Kansas teachers earn an average of $7,060 a year more than Missouri teachers.

Although a Brownback staffer defended the figures as an “apples to apples” comparison, reporters quickly found that was not the case. Not only were 2014-15 Kansas salary figures being compared to 2013-14 Missouri salaries, but, unlike the Missouri figures, the Kansas total included fringe benefits. A check with Missouri officials resulted in figures showing that the average salary for Kansas teachers is higher than for Missouri teachers but only by about $1,255 a year, not more than $7,000.

Brownback’s office issued a statement later that day acknowledging the governor’s figures were wrong but said correct figures still “indicate Kansas teachers earn more per year than do Missouri teachers.” So there.

(The Kansas Association of School Boards later released figures from the National Center for Education Statistics showing Kansas salaries actually were slightly below Missouri’s.)

During the same press conference, Brownback also cited figures that showed Kansas had added 5,700 jobs in June and had 11,500 more jobs than in June 2014. When asked about an analysis by Governing Magazine that showed Kansas had added only 1,700 jobs since December 2014, Brownback quickly pivoted, calling the six-month figures “a snapshot” and putting the focus on private sector job growth. He told reporters his administration was not “cherry-picking” numbers to make the situation look better and pointed to a 1.1 percent increase in private sector jobs between June 2014 and June 2015. “This is what I told you I was going to do, what we ran on: private sector job growth.”

The job numbers are a case where the figures Brownback is citing may not be wrong but could be misleading to the public. The same is true for the administration’s repeated contentions about increases in K-12 school funding when a large portion of that “increase” resulted from including the cost of payments to the teachers’ retirement fund in the funding total.

It’s natural for any politician to try to pick the figures that make him or her look better. However, when the governor continues to tout self-serving “facts” that don’t fully and accurately reflect various situations, it makes it look like he doesn’t want Kansans to know the truth, and that’s not good.