WakeEd (a N&O blog) is reporting that Wake County Commissioner Phil Jeffreys is voting against increased school funding because he wrongly thinks that the funding is going to illegal immigrants. From WakeEd:
In response to Superintendent Bill McNeal's request for a $28 million increase in funding from county commissioners for the district's operating budget, Jeffreys said on WPTF this morning that his answer is no. His rationale is that he says that 55 percent of Wake’s new students are Hispanic and 90 percent of them must be illegal.
Of course, 55% and 90% are wrong:
As we’ve mentioned before, the school district has found that only 12 percent of the new students this year are Hispanic. White kids made up the majority of the newcomers.
Phil Jeffreys is the man that WakePol calls the "most conservative member of the Wake County Commission". Luckily, Wake County residents will have an opportunity to oust Jeffreys in November when he is being opposed by social worker and community activist Lindy Brown. This is one seat on the board (currently 5-2 Republican) that we need to take back.
Comments
Whatta Tool
If the blind racism expressed by "and 90 percent of them must be illegal" is fairly attributable to Jeffreys, the man is dumb as a post.
Maybe not so dumb.
This guys talking points are just the kind of crap wingers love to hear -- and they don't much care if it's true or not. Any excuse to be against government doing more (educating more children, in this case) is good enough for them. It'll be interesting to see if this liar is embraced by Wake County voters.
Not Anymore
It may have worked in the past, but now there is BlueNC to expose these comments to the light of day.
Just the Facts, Please
And what these wingnuts fail to think about is that there are very few KIDS crossing the borders illegally- most Hispanics and Latinos under the age of 16 currently living in NC were born in the U.S. Even if their parents aren't documented, if they were born in the U.S. they are full citizens of the U.S. So this 90% number is nothing but unfounded rhetoric used to outrage the members of our State that think its a good idea to educate fewer children at the same time that our country is in a serious education competition with countries around the world.