PolitiFact Slams Roy Cooper For Misleading North Carolina Voters

September 6, 2016

30-year career politician Roy Cooper is desperate to dupe and mislead North Carolina voters about Gov. Pat McCrory’s successful record on education. After Governor McCrory signed into law the largest teacher pay raise in the country, it increased North Carolina’s standings in teacher pay when compared to other states, and showed that Governor McCrory was committed to reforming education. That didn’t stop Roy Cooper from attempting to mislead voters in a recent TV ad though, trying to claim that North Carolina had fallen in the rankings. PolitiFactquickly fact checked Cooper’s ad, giving it a “False” rating.

PolitiFact reports:

In his new ad, Democratic candidate for N.C. governor Roy Cooper focuses on a teacher who says she had to leave North Carolina to find a better-paying job in another state.

…Another Cooper claim caught our eye: The one he used to promote the ad online. “Under Pat McCrory, our state has fallen to 41st in teacher pay,” Cooper tweeted along with a video of the ad. “We must fix this.”

He said the same thing on Facebook, also adding in a jab accusing Republicans of “election year gimmicks.” But we wondered if it was actually Cooper who was using an election year gimmick here. Is Cooper right with the more important part of his claim, that North Carolina has “fallen” to 41st under McCrory’s leadership?

No.

McCrory was sworn in on Jan. 5, 2013, halfway through the 2012-13 school year. As we already mentioned, North Carolina was ranked 43rd that year. McCrory’s first budget, for the 2013-14 school year, saw teacher pay drop to 47th in the nation. But teacher pay has only risen since then, even if only slightly.

In 2014-15 average pay rose to 42nd, and in 2015-16 it was estimated to have risen again to 41st. So Cooper is clearly wrong about the ranking having “fallen to 41st” under McCrory. It actually rose to 41st.

Cooper said North Carolina “has fallen to 41st in teacher pay” under Gov. McCrory. In fact, the opposite is true. North Carolina has risen to 41st in teacher pay since McCrory entered office. It’s barely an increase, from 43 to 41, but it’s still an increase.

We rate this claim Mostly False.