FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Saturday, October 31, 2020
CONTACT: Liz Doherty
PolitiFact: Dan Forest Missed ~Half of Board of Education Meetings During Pandemic
During the pandemic, Dan Forest has missed nearly half of State Board of Education meetings. He’s a voting member.
RALEIGH — At the gubernatorial debate, Gov. Roy Cooper blasted Dan Forest for missing nearly half of the State Board of Education meetings during the pandemic. Forest has missed 13 of the 28 meetings. PolitiFact fact-checked Gov. Cooper’s claim and rated it “TRUE.”
According to PolitiFact, there have been 28 State Board of Education meetings since the start of the pandemic. Forest has missed 13 of the 28 meetings, or 46%. At the meetings that he missed, the State Board of Education voted on new graduation requirements, remote learning guidelines, GPA calculations, and made changes to testing and grading.
Forest’s team did not respond with any explanation for why Forest missed nearly half of the meetings. On several occasions, Forest was giving interviews on conservative radio and Fox Business at the same time as the meetings he missed. On at least two separate days where Forest failed to show up to the State Board of Education meeting, he found the time to squeeze in multiple campaign fundraisers.
Forest’s abysmal attendance record fits into an established, concerning pattern. Over the past seven years, Forest has blown off his duties as Lt. Governor and skipped numerous meetings. Governor Cooper really did say it best, “You can’t play hooky, skip the tough decisions, skip the tough votes, and still be a leader in public education in the state.”
As Lt. Governor, Forest has MISSED:
| 45% of | State Board of Education meetings (2013-present) |
| 46% of | State Board of Education meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic (March-present) |
| 84% of | State Board of Community Colleges meetings (2013-present) |
| Over 75% | Military Affairs Commission meetings (2013-present) |
| Over ⅓ | Senate sessions* (2013-2018) |
*In some years – such as 2014 and during the last few months of 2017 – Forest missed nearly half of Senate sessions. In 2018, he missed over 70% of sessions.
READ.
Forest’s Fundraisers, May 7, 2020
Forest’s Fundraisers, May 21, 2020
Forest’s Live Interview with Fox Business, June 3, 2020
###