In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, conducted with her husband and son Trig at her side, Sarah Palin talks about the wardrobe controversy and special education. An excerpt of the portion about disabilities:

Less than two weeks before Election Day, she will deliver her first major policy speech Friday, calling for full funding of special education, a subject that has suddenly become extremely personal. And that’s not just because of the arrival of Trig, her 6-month-old son with Down syndrome. It’s because families with children who have disabilities have been flocking to her campaign stops, looking to Palin and her family for inspiration.

… In her speech Friday, Palin will lay out the campaign’s plans to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, boost funding for special-needs children from birth to age 3 and allow parents to choose whether federal money for their child is used in a public, private, religious or secular school without navigating a cumbersome administrative process.

The federal government originally committed in 1975 to paying 40 percent of the cost of educating children with special needs, with the states paying the rest. But that has never happened; full funding would require approximately $26 billion a year, and the federal government currently shells out $10.9 billion.

The McCain campaign plans to phase in that money with an extra $3 billion a year over five years. McCain has called for a domestic discretionary spending freeze, but programs for disabled people would be exempt.

“It’s not all about the money, it’s not all about budgets,” Palin said, adding vaguely that the money could come from “re-prioritizing” the budget. “It’s about that spirit of acceptance and embracing that diversity that is in the world with children who are special, a little bit different from the norm.”

Palin’s eyes well up as she talks about her sister’s son, Karcher, who has autism.

“My sister and I have talked a lot about this. It makes me cry thinking about it,” Palin said. “She asked with tears in her eyes, she says, ‘What happens when Kurt and I, though, are elderly, then what happens to Karcher?’ ”

Palin calls that the story of millions of Americans. Her hope is to strengthen the National Institutes of Health “to make sure we’re researching everything about autism and make sure we find out what causes it.”

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 7:01 am and is filed under Campaign 2008, NOT2BEMISSED, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.