@cicerone imposter,
Debra, CI,
I've got no idea of what you're trying to say by throwing Operating budget pdfs at me. OK, it shows that the budgets have decreased from FY06, but that's meaningless unless you know the context, which was best offered in the bigger picture of the link I provided.
Instead of throwing accusations against Palin based on budget documents taken out of context, why don't you take the word of some of the folks that are actually impacted by the budget.
Quote: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.
Unlike many other states, Alaska has relatively flush budget coffers, thanks to a rise in oil and gas revenues. Funding for schools will remain fairly level next year, however. Overall per-pupil funding across the state will rise by $100, to $5,480, in fiscal 2009. Total K-12 funding will rise to $1.2 billion from $1.1 billion, when transportation, energy, and other state funds are included, according to estimates from the governor’s Office of Management and Budget.
The state also agreed to add another $216 million to fill in shortfalls in its teacher-retirement system, the budget office said.
Carl Rose, the executive director of the Association of Alaska School Boards, praised the changes in funding for rural schools and students with special needs as a “historic event,” and said the finance overhaul would bring more stability to district budgets.
Bill Bjork, the president of the Alaska state affiliate of the National Education Association, said that he was pleased with those changes, but that the plan, and the increase in per-pupil spending, “doesn’t do enough, soon enough,” particularly given the state’s strong oil revenues.
Source is same link I provided in my earlier response....
Raising special needs students funding from $26.9K to $73.8K per student, doesn't real cold-hearted to me. And certainly the leaders in the Education community don't feel so either.
Now CI.
Unlike Debra's I've been unsuccessful finding anything more on the apparent cuts to the Commission on Aging. I did find FY07 and FY08 minutes from that agency that were pretty positive about their budgets, although they worried about some program called FACES that didn't make it. No explanation on the reason, but they were actively trying to get it enacted in a budget supplemental.
Now, if you dig deep enough, you'll probably find a few programs that took hits under Palin's budgets and, without any context to judge, you might think that the cut was unfair or uncompassionate. And I'm sure if you look at budgets that Obama managed.....oh...what's that? Oh yeah, he hasn't managed a budget.