MIDLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS & "MISINFORMATION" PART THREE
Dearest reader,
We have finally reached the most important page in this little ledger.
In Part One, we looked at the MPS ConNEXTion Team, a district-created network whose members receive information directly from MPS, become "trusted sources" within their communities, and have now been assigned to listen for "misinformation" about school funding.
In Part Two, we opened MPS's own "Misinformation Mythbusters" and found that the label has been applied not only to factual claims, but also to opinions, policy judgments and disagreements.
Which leaves Lady Budgetdown with one final question:
Who gets to decide what is "factual information"?
Because there is a distinction here that matters enormously.
Government agencies are not the arbiters of truth merely because they are government agencies. They are sources. Their records are evidence. Their explanations can be correct, incomplete, mistaken or disputed.
And the public is entitled to compare those explanations against the records.
That isn't "misinformation."
That's oversight.
That's why Lady Budgetdown doesn't begin an investigation by asking:
"What did the district say?"
She asks:
"What do the records show?" 🧾
There is a difference.
If a district says an expenditure was $2 million and the audited financial statement says $2 million?
Wonderful.
Receipt matches explanation. ✓
If someone says a millage rate was 2.5 mills and the official tax filing says 2.5 mills?
Wonderful.
Receipt matches statement. ✓
But if someone questions why a financial decision was made, whether another choice would have been better, or whether the district's explanation tells the entire story?
The government's answer does not automatically become "fact" simply because the government gave it.
Nor does questioning that answer automatically become "misinformation."
And this is precisely why Lady Budgetdown is uncomfortable with any government entity teaching community members what constitutes "factual information" about itself, and then asking those same people to listen for "misinformation" in the community.
The standard cannot be:
🏫 "MPS said this."
Therefore:
✅ "This is factual information."
The standard should be:
🧾 What do the records support?
Because public institutions should absolutely communicate.
They should explain.
They should correct demonstrably false information.
They should answer questions.
But they should also expect their own statements to be examined, compared, questioned and, when necessary, challenged.
That isn't hostility toward public schools.
That is what public accountability looks like.
So after three trips through this particular ledger, Lady Budgetdown will leave Midland Public Schools with one simple thought:
📜 "Factual information" is not whatever the district says it is.
Factual information is what the receipts can support.
And if the receipts support the district?
Lady Budgetdown will say so.
If they don't?
Lady Budgetdown will say that too.
No homework assignment required. 🪶👓
With receipts and respect,
Lady Budgetdown
Midland Public Schools
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