If I’m reading the PDFs correctly, the schools still got more money than the year before. This sounds like another liberal misconception that cutting an INCREASE is cutting funding. You are correct, it is the old liberal ploy of saying someone "cut" spending when they actually cut down the an increase to a smaller amount. Palin cut down an increase in funding but raised spending on special needs children by about double the old amount. I don't have the exact figures handy but they are floating around the internet somewhere. Just another liberal bunch of BS trying to tear down a great candidate, but they will have a hard time after that speech last night. Don't worry, Palin and McCain will counter all these lies and slanders.
No, she increased spending. Believe it or not, this is from DailyKos;
While it would be quite damaging to Palin if she did significantly cut special needs funding, that does not appear to have been the case with the budget listed here.
While the top line budget for Department of Education and Early Development Special Schools Component Budget Summary dropped from 8.3 million in 2007 to 3.2 million in 2008, this appears to be due to the movement of the budget for the Alaska Challange Youth Academy to a different place.
2007 budget
Special Education Service Agency (SESA) - $2,072.3
Providence Heights School - $145.0
Alaska School for the Deaf - $319.0.
The Department of Education & Early Development - $637.4.
Alaska Challenge Youth Academy Program - $5,724.7
2008 Budget
Special Education Service Agency (SESA) - $2,054.6
Providence Heights School - $145.0
Alaska School for the Deaf - $319.0.
The Department of Education & Early Development - $637.4.
The budget for the youth academy in 2007, 2008 and 2009 can be seen here: Academy budget
2007 - 5.5 million
2008 - 5.7 million
2009 - 6.1 million
So, there was not a real decrease of 62% in this budget, just a shift a line of the budget to somewhere else. Rather, one line in the budget for special needs education dropped about 1%, and the rest of the budget was flat.
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/9/3/163229/8631/40#c40
If one reads this piece cursorily one might believe it actually specifies some sort of accomplishment somewhere. The addition of the emphasis below demonstrates that that is certainly not the case:
"He helped pass a far-reaching ethics and campaign finance bill in the Illinois state Senate and made the issue a priority on arriving in Washington. Much to the displeasure of his colleagues, Obama promoted an outside commission to handle Senate ethics complaints. He co-authored the lobbying reform bill awaiting President Bush's signature and pushed -- again to the dismay of some colleagues -- to include a provision requiring lawmakers to report the names of their lobbyist-bundlers." He has co-sponsored bills to overhaul the presidential public financing system and public financing of Senate campaigns.
