EarlyStories has been keeping a close eye on coverage of the stimulus package these days. There’s no shortage of news to follow; for example, Head Start and Early Head Start centers will soon get some of the $2.2 billion in promised funding to expand their services.
Yet in Alaska, one of just 11 states with no publicly funded pre-kindergarten, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin is poised to reject almost half of the federal stimulus money available. And this week, the once vice-presidential candidate got some unwanted attention about an early story of a different kind when Palin’s teenage daughter’s ex-boyfriend boasted that the governor likely knew the teenage couple — who have a baby — were sleeping together. The interview — to be aired on Monday — came during an appearance on the Tyra Banks Show, not usually a source for EarlyStories.
Just last month, Bristol Palin told Fox News the abstinence preached by her mother “is not realistic at all,” and said she wished she had waited 10 years before having a child.
So why bring all this up, when the presidential election is long over? For this reason: Alaska’s educators and advocacy community are pushing hard at the moment for the state to improve its early childhood offerings, and some were hoping that stimulus money might be used.
Alaska superintendents are lobbying legislators to reverse her decision to reject $172 million for Alaska’s schools. Much of the money was designated for poor schools and children with special needs. Some educators had also hoped it would be used to expand pre-kindergarten offerings for low-income children in Anchorage, along with those with special needs.
Palin — who called education “near and dear to my heart,” while on the stump with Sen. John McCain – did not attend a summit meeting in Alaska last November on early childhood education, and her budget proposal this year called for only a state-funded pilot program to serve some 500 pre-kindergarten children, nothing more. Alaska has also fared poorly in the way it pays teachers.
Palin also exposed a bit of hypocrisy when did not hold back her criticism of President Barack Obama for his gaffe in “Tonight with Jay Leno,’. Palin, the mother of a special needs baby who once pledged to look out for special needs children, let it be know that was “shocked,” by what she termed his “…degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people.”
For the record, Obama compared his bowling score of 120 with being “like Special Olympics,” and quickly apologized.
Both Democrats and Republicans have disagreed with her decision to turn down stimulus money in tough economic times, as have many Alaskans.
Some supporters have said they admire Palin’s courage in turning down money they fear could expand government. It will be interesting to keep an eye on what happens to Alaska’s education budget and to any of its limited pre-kindergarten programs as the stimulus story continues to unfold. Journalists should pay close attention, even as the more sensational story of Palin’s unmarried daughter, ex-boyfriend and illegitimate grandchild grab the spotlight.
More news
Alternative routes to teaching become more popular despite lack of evidence
Do new exams produce better teachers? States act while educators debate
INGLEWOOD, Calif.—In the back of a tenth-grade geometry classroom on a recent morning at Washington Preparatory High School, nine miles southeast of Los Angeles, Landon Yurica and Alycia Jones bent over the papers in front of them. At 23 and 24, respectively, the two could almost blend in as students as they tried the assignment [...]
California struggles to assess teacher training programs
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.— It took less than a minute for Mario Martinez to finish the first six questions of the algebra exam that his professor, Ivan Cheng, had just handed to him. The high school-level test was supposed to be a good example of an exam, so that the graduate students in Cheng’s math methods course [...]
Chicago parent on school closings: “If you’re not teaching children…it needs closing”
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—On a recent afternoon at California State University, Northridge, Nancy Prosenjak was attempting to quiet the graduate students spread out across conference tables in the back of her classroom. She was still missing nearly a third of the class, but she was eager to debrief with her students about their first day of student [...]
Chicago parent on school closings: “I cry a lot…Nobody wants their school closed.”The decision to close more than 50 struggling schools in Chicago has fueled outrage among many parents and teachers. But others see the strategy as a way to improve education for the city’s most vulnerable students. Patricia Hunter, 28, a stay-at-home mom, sends her daughter Danielle to Dulles School of Excellence on the South Side. [...]
California’s rocky path to prosperityThe Chicago school system plans to shutter 54 schools next year to save money and improve academics. Among them is Lafayette Elementary in Humboldt Park on the West Side of the city, a school with a treasured school orchestra and a program for autistic children. Valerie Nelson, 43, is a home health care worker who [...]
Unless California helps low-income parents learn basic skills, train for jobs and pursue higher education, the state’s prosperity is at risk, concludes Working Hard, Left Behind. The Campaign for College Opportunity, the Women’s Foundation of California and Working Poor Families project collaborated on the report. California leads the nation in low-income working adults and in [...]
