Advertisement Truth Check: Ad claims Senate hopeful Tillis cut $500 million from NC education Analysis: Some 'facts' in Sen. Hagan political attack ad not factual Share Shares Copy Link Copy

In one of her latest political ads, Democratic North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan again is accusing her Republican challenger of slashing the state's education budget.(Watch the ad here.)“Hagan versus Tillis on education," the ad begins. "The facts: Speaker Thom Tillis cut $500 million from our schools, increasing class sizes, leaving students without textbooks.”Truth Check has determined Hagan's claim that Tillis cut $500 million from public education to be mostly false. Here's why: North Carolina's education budget has increased every year since Tillis became House Speaker in 2011. Per pupil spending has also increased under Tillis' watch. Hence, the state is spending more money on education than ever before.But Democrats, including Hagan, claim public schools have taken a financial hit, despite the increases. Why? The budget passed in February by the state's Republican-controlled General Assembly did not adjust for inflationary costs, nor did it make up for reductions in federal and local education spending.But in raw dollars, North Carolina is spending more on education than in previous years."Tillis opposed a bill to make college loans more affordable," Hagan's ad continues.This claim is true, though it's important to note the bill to make college loans more affordable was a U.S. Senate bill and Tillis is not a Senator. Yet because Tillis was a candidate for Hagan's Senate seat, he was asked how he would have voted on the bill. He told the Charlotte News & Observer, "“The bill has many glaring issues, like the fact it significantly increases the national debt, doesn’t make college more affordable, and does nothing to create jobs for the millions of recent graduates who are unemployed because of the failed economic policies of Kay Hagan and President Obama.”The Senate bill failed, but Hagan had Tillis on the record as opposing the bill, which is featured prominently in her latest ad. "Kay Hagan, strengthening our public schools and community colleges, and took on Wall Street to pass a new law making college loans more affordable," Hagan's ad continues.Regarding this claim, there's more to the story. The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which made it easier for college students to repay their loans after graduation, was attached to President Obama's health care reform law, which received most of the attention and was opposed by Republicans. Democrats, including Hagan, voted along party lines to push the bill through, despite protests from the nation's largest student loan lender.Read more here