Posted on 09/04/2008 12:11:16 PM PDT by bugseye
I just watched CNN's Soledad O'Brien sandbag former White House Communications Director Nicole Wallace by asking her how Sarah Palin can claim to be a defender of special needs children when she cut the budget for that Alaska office by 62 percent. Wallace wasn't familiar with the charge -- which isn't surprising, since it's only being made on DailyKos and another liberal site. (Tip for Ms. O'Brien: DailyKos is not a reliable news site.)
This charge is based on looking at the budget for Alaska's Special Education Service Agency for 2007-2009. In fact, the December 2006 budget document that they cite would have been prepared by the outgoing administration -- that of Republican Frank Murkowski, whom Palin defeated.
What's gone unmentioned is that the Palin signed into law a dramatic reform of the state's education financing system that equalizes aid to rural and urban districts, while significantly increasing funding for special needs students.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Let’s see how long it will take to be debunked.
For a little past history, two days ago, the Washington Post leveled the charge that she cut funding for a home for unwed mothers. It took Freepers about 15 minutes to pull up the records and find that the budget actually increased three fold over the prior years.
Sarah Palins “special needs” advocacy started only 4 months ago with the birth of her son. Why would this be an issue for her to champion before then??
DailyKos as a source? That’s laughable.
Also, so the only way she can be an advocate is to dump government money into programs?
Well, it is true. Factually speaking. The money in the budget for this project has NEVER reached it’s earmarked level. Meaning that she cut it, because each year the amount used and needed has never reached the number that was allocated. So why set aside more than you use year by years? It’s wasteful irresponsible and just plain dumb I think the allocation was 6 million, and each year they never used more than something like 2.8 million. I will look for that link I had on this.
Gov. Sarah Palin and state lawmakers have gone ahead with an overhaul of Alaska’s school funding system that supporters predict will provide much-needed financial help to rural schools and those serving students with disabilities.
The plan, enacted in the recently concluded session of the legislature, is based on recommendations issued by a legislative task force last year. It will phase in a greater flow of money to districts outside of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, over the next five years.
Advocates for rural and remote schools have lobbied for years for more funding, in particular noting the higher fuel, transportation, and other costs associated with providing education in communities scattered across the vast state.
A second part of the measure raises spending for students with special needs to $73,840 in fiscal 2011, from the current $26,900 per student in fiscal 2008, according to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (emphasis added).
Next up is the FY08 operating budget, and indeed, it only shows $3,156,000. Here’s the part DK and O’B forgot to mention: the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy is a separate line item in the operating budget - to the tune of $5,709,000. The funds total $8,865,000, an 7.26% increase, not a 62% cut.
The FY09 Operating Budget has the same separation. Add them together again, and you have $9,214,900, 3.95% more than FY08 and 11.49% more than FY07. Again, not a 62% cut.
This is something the NR@DK could have easily checked just by looking at the Alaska State Budget website and making a few clicks. Ms. O’Brien could have also checked this out in less than an hour if she had bothered to actually work at her craft rather than ball up bad numbers from Daily Kos and fling them with glee on unsuspecting campaign officials.
just unbelievable. If people buy into this than they are just plain stupid. Unfortunately a lot of people take fact from the first thing they read without a little research of their own. Anyone else notice how offended MSNBC was last night by all of the attacks against them? It’s about time they reap what they sow. We all know it was the same story in the 2000 and 2004 elections but look what happened. It seems that this time they are going all out because their attempts to hide their bias hasn’t worked.
What do you expect from someone named after a prison?????.............
Now, Faughnan does a pretty decent job responding to this crap, but because I saw the per student funding level and skipped the words “per student,” I initially thought Palin would need a better defense (sorry, Brian). So I did a little more digging, and I found that Night Runner is an idiot, and O’Brien (for lapping this up) is lazy and unprofessional.
I started with the FY07 budget for Special Schools (that was Murkowski’s last budget year). Indeed, Special Schools received $8,265,300. Now, one thing to keep in mind: this budget included the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy, which NR@DK referenced earlier.
Next up is the FY08 operating budget, and indeed, it only shows $3,156,000. Here’s the part DK and O’B forgot to mention: the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy is a separate line item in the operating budget - to the tune of $5,709,000. The funds total $8,865,000, an 7.26% increase, not a 62% cut.
The FY09 Operating Budget has the same separation. Add them together again, and you have $9,214,900, 3.95% more than FY08 and 11.49% more than FY07. Again, not a 62% cut. This is something the NR@DK could have easily checked just by looking at the Alaska State Budget website and making a few clicks. Ms. O’Brien could have also checked this out in less than an hour if she had bothered to actually work at her craft rather than ball up bad numbers from Daily Kos and fling them with glee on unsuspecting campaign officials. So, what we have learned? That Governor Palin did not cut special needs education funding, that DK still spews out sludge, that CNN has joined MSNBC (and many others) in sinking to the nut-roots’ level.
It sure is laughable. But the so-called “main stream” (i.e. - leftist propaganda) media is not a source of news at all (except by accident). So it is no surprise they would draw on DailyKos or DU or any other rabid lefty site as a “news” source.
This kind of garbage will no doubt continue from now until the election at least and if McCain/Palin win it will go on indefinitely.
I thank God for the internet and alternative media so that this kind of thing can be quickly debunked and exposed for the rank partisan trash that it is.
So what if she did???
Why should I and my family be expected to subsidize somebody else’s family???
Or did we overnight change from being Conservatives just because we’re supporting a woman for office?
Burned by KOSsacks again. The media will never learn.
Since this rumor most likely began at DK or by those types who spread stuff there, it is unlikely that any of them even know how to read a budget report.
How much longer before Daily Kos digs up a photo of Piper Palin eating a booger when she was two?
Ah, answering my own post. This is exactly what happened
Next up is the FY08 operating budget, and indeed, it only shows $3,156,000. Here’s the part DK and O’B forgot to mention: the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy is a separate line item in the operating budget - to the tune of $5,709,000. The funds total $8,865,000, an 7.26% increase, not a 62% cut.
Essentially then, there is no real difference between the television networks and a far-left blog that is home of the nutroots.
And they claim there is no bias.
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