Sarah Palin rejects $172 million for Alaska schools

[oldiebutgoodie]

School officials turn to Legislature to save stimulus funds

Alaska superintendents are already lobbying legislators to reverse Gov. Sarah Palin's decision to reject $172 million for Alaska schools.

Their reactions to Palin's decision have ranged from dismay to panic, superintendents said Thursday.

Much of the stimulus package money for education -- about $74 million -- was designated for poor schools and special-needs kids. It was to be spent over the next two academic years.

Most of the other money is meant to help prevent cuts to classrooms, staff and critical services.

"This is the kids' money, not our money," said Lower Yukon superintendent John Lamont.

[...]

Many of the state's 53 superintendents are drafting a joint letter to the Legislature, asking lawmakers to override Palin and accept the money, Lamont said.

[...]

The news may have come as more of a surprise because the state Department of Education held a teleconference with superintendents this week about the stimulus funding. Superintendents were given estimates of how much they would be receiving, for at least some portions of the money. They were told the governor had some reservations about the money and didn't want frivolous spending, but not that Palin might turn away all the school money, said Kenai Peninsula Borough Schools assistant superintendent Steve Atwater.

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Homeschooling
Palin-Style

[LouiseVargas]

She is defintely the wicked witch of the west.

[LouiseVargas]

Didn't she cut off funding for rape kits in the various Alaska outposts of her state?

[oldiebutgoodie]

Didn't she cut off funding for rape kits in the various Alaska outposts of her state?

She didn't do this as Governor, if I recall correctly (and I might be wrong). I believe she did this as mayor of Wasilla. It was only for Wasilla. The police chief there was so horrified that he applied for some sort of federal grant to pay for the rape kits but Palin insisted that rape victims be billed for their own rape exams.

One of the reasons for the police chief's concerns is that not only does the State of Alaska have a higher than the national average of the number of incidents of rape/sex crimes, the town of Wasilla has a higher than average rate within the State itself so you know that has to be bad. Plus, Wasilla seems to be a kind of dumping ground for registered sex offenders (more than the normal concentration of numbers for a city/town of that size) so there's trouble waiting to happen.

It's all a moot point now because it was taken out of Palin's decision-making powers when the Alaska State legislature made it a State-wide law that rape victims could not be forced to pay for rape kits or rape exams anywhere in Alaska.

[oldiebutgoodie]

Ah, I'm glad I looked this one up. Somehow, I remembered reading about a big controversy between the police chief and mayor Palin over the rape kits and how he'd found outside funding for them and she nixed it. Here's a few excerpts from a CNN article:

Palin's town charged women for rape exams

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's hometown required women to pay for their own rape examinations while she was mayor, a practice her police chief fought to keep as late as 2000.

Former state Rep. Eric Croft, a Democrat, sponsored a state law requiring cities to provide the examinations free of charge to victims. He said the only ongoing resistance he met was from Wasilla, where Palin was mayor from 1996 to 2002.

"It was one of those things everyone could agree on except Wasilla," Croft told CNN. "We couldn't convince the chief of police to stop charging them."

Alaska's Legislature in 2000 banned the practice of charging women for rape exam kits -- which experts said could cost up to $1,000.

Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, often talks about her experience running Wasilla, population approximately 7,000, and that has prompted close scrutiny of her record there. Wasilla's practice of charging victims for their rape exams while she was mayor has gotten wide circulation on the Internet and in the mainstream media.

[...]

For years, Alaska has had the worst record of any state in rape and in murder of women by men. The rape rate in Alaska is 2.5 times the national average.

[...]

Henry, the forensic nurse, said charging victims "retraumatizes them."

"Asking them to pay for something law enforcement needs in order to investigate their case, it's almost like blaming them for getting sexually assaulted," she said.

[...]

After it became law, Wasilla's police chief told the local paper, The Frontiersman, that it would cost the city $5,000 to $14,000 a year -- money that he'd have to find.

"In the past, we've charged the cost of the exams to the victim's insurance company when possible," Fannon was quoted as saying. "I just don't want to see any more burden on the taxpayer."

[...]

Before Palin came to City Hall, the Wasilla Police Department paid for rape kits out of a fund for miscellaneous costs, according to the police chief who preceded Fannon and was fired by Palin. That budget line was cut by more than half during Palin's tenure, but it did not specifically mention rape exams.

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Okay, the brouhaha over the rape kits must have been with that previous police chief.