Face the State headline misled about Romanoff's TABOR proposal

Summary: Continuing its frequent past practice, the "news" website Face the State published a distorted headline linking to an article published by another news source. The website's misleading headline asserted that under a proposal to reform state education funding, surplus funds "would go to teachers unions, not citizens." But the Associated Press article to which it linked actually stated that "voters would give up future tax surplus refunds and that money would go into a separate 'rainy day' account in the education fund."

On April 18 the "news" website Face the State linked to an April 17 Associated Press article published on the website of the Rocky Mountain News with a headline asserting that under a proposal to reform the state Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) and Amendment 23 to the Colorado Constitution, the "[s]urplus would go to teachers unions, not citizens." In fact, the article reported that under the proposal from Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, which would have to be approved by voters during the November election, "voters would give up future tax surplus refunds and that money would go into a separate 'rainy day' account in the education fund created by Amendment 23."

From the "Latest Headlines" section of the April 18 Face the State home page:

Romanoff vs. TABOR

- Surplus would go to teachers unions, not citizens RMN

The AP reported that according to Romanoff, the proposal "would get rid of automatic spending increases for education, as required by Amendment 23":

Tax surplus refunds under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights would permanently disappear and instead go to fund education under a proposal by Democrat House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.

Romanoff said the measure would get rid of automatic spending increases for education, as required by Amendment 23, and take the state budget off of "autopilot."

The proposal, which hasn't been introduced yet, would have to get two-thirds support in the House and Senate in order to be placed on the ballot in November.

[...]

Under the proposal, voters would give up future tax surplus refunds and that money would go into a separate "rainy day" account in the education fund created by Amendment 23.

Face the State's use of a misleading headline to link to an article from another news source continues a frequent practice that Colorado Media Matters has noted. The claim that additional funds for education "would go to teachers unions" echoes comments that Newsradio 850 KOA host Mike Rosen made on his March 14, 2007, broadcast, in which he claimed that a proposal from Gov. Bill Ritter (D) to make additional funds available for local schools serves "the agenda of the teachers union" because "any time you talk about another program, 85 percent of the money is going to go to the rank and file of the teachers unions." As Colorado Media Matters noted, federal government statistics show that expenditures on all public school staff -- not just teachers who belong to a union -- comprise less than 85 percent of public and secondary education spending.

Face the State describes itself as "the 'go-to' news resource for Coloradans interested in state and local politics." The website's founder and managing editor, conservative political activist Brad Jones, defended Face the State's journalistic practices in a February 6 News guest editorial and in an article published in the February 7 issue of the weekly Westword, which stated, among other things, that "Jones resents the insinuation that he'd sacrifice accuracy and journalistic credibility if given the chance to spatter political opponents."

—E.B.