Since tall tales always have been part of our state's legacy, I probably shouldn't have been surprised to discover the spin that the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio has put on the administration of our current governor.

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The museum is a valuable educational resource, but it also is part of the University of Texas System and therefore heavily dependent on state dollars and the political goodwill in Austin that helps keep them coming.

Gov. Rick Perry should feel sufficiently courted.

I hadn't been to the museum in years. But occasionally I play tourist in my hometown, and on a recent weekend I took my wife, Jena, a transplanted New Yorker, to the institute for an overview of her new state's multicultural heritage.

Near the front door was an exhibit of footwear once worn by an array of notable Texans. It included two sets of boots, one that had belonged to President George W. Bush and the second to Perry.

Bush's accompanying biographical sketch, as far as it went, was straightforward and factual. Perry's was much more imaginative, loaded with revisions to recent history and one particularly embarrassing error.

The display mistakenly said Perry was "elected" governor in 2000, the year Bush resigned from the office after being elected president.

In truth, Perry wasn't elected governor until 2002. He was automatically promoted, in keeping with the state constitution, from lieutenant governor to governor in December 2000 to finish out Bush's gubernatorial term after Bush had resigned to move to the White House.

Am I nitpicking? No.

This display isn't part of a grade school student's social studies project. It is part of a taxpayer-funded, higher education institution that attracts thousands of visitors, including many schoolchildren, each year.

A spokeswoman said museum officials were grateful that I had called the error to their attention and said that it would be corrected.

I am not holding my breath, however, that the remainder of the governor's "biographical" summary will be corrected, although it also should be.

Quoting from the display:

"Gov. Perry has prioritized public education funding and teacher pay raises. He has also championed access to higher education and health care for all Texans and worked hard to create equal economic opportunities for Texans regardless of ethnicity or geographical location."

Say what?

Prioritized education funding? Teacher pay raises? Gov. Rick Perry? Rick Perry of Texas? Yep, that's who the display must have been trying to describe, because his photo was attached.

Granted, a few years ago, as lieutenant governor, Perry helped then-Gov. Bush increase education funding, including higher teacher pay. And in 2001, Perry's first session as governor, the Legislature gave teachers a "pay raise" of sorts in the form of an annual, $1,000 allotment for health care.

But his most noticeable priority since has been to squeeze blood out of state spending, to the detriment of public education and a host of other programs.

In 2003, the Legislature, with Perry's endorsement, cut the teachers' annual health care allotment in half to help bridge a revenue shortfall. The only possible teacher pay raises the governor has even discussed in recent years have been limited and tied to extra work or some other type of merit requirement.

Meanwhile, according to the National Education Association, Texas has dropped from 26th among the states in average teacher salaries about the time Perry became governor to 32nd now, while health insurance costs have been rising.

Rather than championing access to higher education and health care, Perry has done the opposite. He may support more scholarships for needy students, but he signed a bill last year allowing university governing boards to raise tuition independently of legislative control. The result is that many middle-income Texans are finding it increasingly difficult to send their children to college.

And instead of gutting up and insisting that the Legislature create an adequate and equitable tax system during the 2003 budget crunch, Perry instead insisted on deep spending cuts and supported policy changes that led to more than 160,000 low-income youngsters being dropped from the Children's Health Insurance Program. Despite disclaimers from Austin, most of them weren't picked up by Medicaid either.

The Institute of Texan Cultures spokeswoman said the claims of gubernatorial strength were taken from Perry's official biography. He is, it would seem, a legend in his own mind.