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AP Fact Check: Did school funding rise or fall under Quinn?

SPRINGFIELD - Whether education funding in Illinois rose or fell under Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn depends on whose money you're talking about, and during what time period.

The question has surfaced repeatedly in the heated campaign between Quinn and his challenger, Republican businessman Bruce Rauner. In two televised debates, Rauner has said money for schools dropped by half a billion dollars under Quinn. In turn, Quinn insists it actually rose nearly $500 million since he assumed office in 2009.

Determining who is right depends on whether you count an influx of federal stimulus dollars in the 2010 fiscal year, the first budget that the Quinn administration crafted.

It's not just a spat over numbers. The health of the state's schools is considered an important issue for women and other crucial voters in the November election, and each candidate is arguing that he would be the best defender of the schoolhouse.

Numbers provided to The Associated Press by the Illinois State Board of Education show in 2009, the last year before Quinn replaced his impeached predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, state spending on preschool through 12th grade was $7.4 billion. This year, it's $6.8 billion.

The Rauner campaign says that's a decrease of $600 million, or 8 percent.

But the fiscal 2009 spending was bolstered by President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. It shuffled $1 billion in federal funds into Illinois schools that year, and $791 million the following year.

Quinn campaign spokeswoman Brooke Anderson says the stimulus money should not be counted in the state mix of funding - even though the State Board of Education has routinely reported stimulus funding lumped in with state assistance when discussing spending for schools.

Without the federal aid, education funding in fiscal 2009 drops to $6.4 billion, which means state support has increased $442 million, or 7 percent. When stimulus funding expired in 2011, Quinn got approval for his income tax increase in part to help education - over GOP objections, Anderson said.

"We fought the Republican attempts to cut the budget and cut education funding," she said. "The governor led that fight to raise revenue in 2011 and allowed us to avoid radical cuts to education."

But Rauner's campaign focuses on there being less money today for schools than six years ago - suggesting Quinn should have come up with funding to replace the lost stimulus funds.

"The bottom line is schools are receiving $500 million less in general fund education spending than they did in (fiscal year) 2010," Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf says. "Quinn used the stimulus to back-fill general fund spending and he has still never made general funds education spending for schools whole."

Quinn and lawmakers initially did try to make up some of that difference. In the 2011-2012 school year, when federal assistance ended, they pumped education funding up to just over $7 billion.

That means state funding under Quinn hit its zenith in 2011. Since then, it has decreased $214 million, or more than 3 percent.

During the same period, Quinn also increased annual payments to woefully underfunded teacher pension plans by nearly $2 billion a year. Governors have long argued that having a sound retirement account is a key to recruiting and keeping top-notch instructors, even though the money doesn't go directly to the classroom.

Quinn has argued that Rauner's proposed budget policies would have devastating consequences for schools. The governor has pushed for extending the state's temporary income tax hike, partly for education. Rauner opposes the extension, saying that improving the economy and eliminating "wasteful" spending will bolster the state budget.

The candidates' final debate is Monday night in Chicago.

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