Factcheckers: Many claims about Palin are false, misleading
September 9th, 2008From Newsweek: Factcheckers at factcheck.org find no basis for allegations that GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin made deep cuts in her state’s special education budget. The claims had been circulated as fact in mass emails, web postings and on CNN. An excerpt:
Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62 percent. She didn’t cut it at all. In fact, she tripled per-pupil funding over just three years.
… According to an April 2008 article in Education Week, Palin signed legislation in March 2008 that would increase public school funding considerably, including special needs funding. It would increase spending on what Alaska calls “intensive needs” students (students with high-cost special requirements) from $26,900 per student in 2008 to $73,840 per student in 2011. That almost triples the per-student spending in three fiscal years. Palin’s original proposal, according to the Anchorage Daily News, would have increased funds slightly more, giving intensive needs students a $77,740 allotment by 2011.
… Those who claim that Palin cut special needs funding by 62 percent are looking in the wrong place and misinterpreting what they find there.
The factcheckers also find no evidence that Palin tried to get books banned at the Wasilla library.
Factcheck.org is a nonpartisan consumer advocate for voters published by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center.
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September 10th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Funny how you selectively pull out which items from Factcheck.org that only support your opinion of Palin.
Nearly everything else she or the McCain campaign have claimed about her are half-truths or downright lies.
September 9th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I think it’s a common problem for people not to notice a problem until it directly affects them. Obviously, we want people in power to be more broad in their attention to problems that affect others outside their direct circle, but Palin had only been governor for a short time, so it’s difficult to know whether she would have paid attention to special needs and education even if she weren’t directly affected. She also has a nephew with special needs so it’s likely that this issue of education and special needs were already on her radar.
I appreciate the clarification on this specific rumor!
September 9th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Though she did “inquire” about getting books banned and then tried to fire the librarian.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html
I’m all for even coverage of these things, but…
September 9th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I find it interesting that the legislation was signed in March 2008 and that Trig was born in April 2008. Governor Palin will personally benefit from the changes. Too often politicians ignore a problem til it is their problem.
I grew up with a severely disabled brother in the 1950′s when there were no services for families with challenged children. It was a time when special needs students couldn’t access any public support. Fortunately we have moved forward as a society in accepting special needs people and providing accessibility to education and medical services.
We should study the candidates records carefully. The misleading stories about the cuts are regrettable but I will watch with interest for substantive positions from all of the candidates. Awareness is one thing, action is another.