Obama’s campaign is out with a new ad hitting Romney on education, in particular class sizes.
Here’s the script: Kevin, father: "Some of our children's greatest experiences have been in the smaller classrooms." Voiceover: "But Mitt Romney says class sizes don't matter and he supports Paul Ryan's budget which could cut education by 20%." Kevin: "You can't do this by shoving 30, 35 people in a class and just teaching to some test." Caroline, mother: "These are all issues that really he personally cannot relate to. To be able to afford an education to want the very best public education system for your children."
But let’s look at the facts. Did Romney say “class sizes don’t matter,” as the ad alleges? First Read fact-checked this back in May when, in a campaign event in Philadelphia back in May, Romney seemed to downplay or dismiss the impact of class sizes. He said classroom sizes were not “driving the success” of school systems around the world that have similar class sizes to the United States. He cited a private management company’s study, not academic research.
But he also acknowledged -- in a limited way -- that smaller class sizes can have a positive impact. “If you had a class of five that would be terrific,” he said in May. “If you had a class of 50 that’s impossible.”
Romney, however, has a history of being critical of the idea of class sizes. At a Fox/Google debate in Florida in September 2011, he said, “All the talk about we need smaller classroom size, look that's promoted by the teachers’ unions to hire more teachers.”
Really… Hank Williams Jr. said this about the president of the United States yesterday: “We’ve got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S. and we hate him.”
