Is are childrun lerning? Knot in Alaskuh

Looks like momma bear is at it again. She's turning down $288 million of the $930.7 million that Alaska is slated to receive from the stimulus package. And what would the majority of that spending fund?

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

Of course you strip away that spending, because it doesn't go towards anything useful, right?

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.

[Lower Yukon superintendent John] Lamont's district, which is spread over 22,000 square miles in Western Alaska, has a dropout rate that is more than twice the national average. He had planned to use the $2.2 million he thought his district was getting to hire math and reading specialists.

Anchorage schools were slated to get at least $26 million for special education and Title One schools, which are in the city's poorest neighborhoods. One idea was to use some of the money to expand pre-kindergarten to more low-income children, Comeau said.

[Aleutians East superintendent Phil] Knight's district of six schools, all of which are accessible only by boat or plane, has 250 kids. He had planned to use his district's slated $84,000 to keep open smaller schools threatened with closure next year.

[Northwest Arctic Borough superintendent Norman Eck's] district is under intervention by the state Department of Education because of poor test scores year after year. He said he had planned to use his $1.2 million for education materials the district otherwise could not afford. High electricity and fuel costs hit his budget hard this year, and ended up being taken from money otherwise meant for kids in classrooms.

Even her hometown (and the town where she gave birth to Trig but no one seems to have a record of it happening) of Mat-Su wasn't immune.

Mat-Su school officials considered the stimulus money the one bright spot in an otherwise potentially bleak year for funding, Mat-Su School Board President Jim Colver said.

The board had hoped to use it to save teaching positions.

"I was optimistic that this is how we were going to get through this budget year. So this has just kind of tipped my boat over right now," Colver said.

Some future she's trying to invest in (take a few minutes and read the comments from Alaskans, they're pretty enlightening). But then again, what would you expect from a woman who went to five different colleges, has yet to have either of her two high school age children graduate from high school, has children that just have unexplained extended absences from school, and pulls them out of school for weeks at a time so they can be used as campaign props?