Jim Gerl is Smiling
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 10:09PM
Justin Bathon in Disabilities-IDEA

Watching the debate now and sort of following along with the liveblogs ... here is MSNBC on McCain's statements on Palin's Vice Presidential qualification that she is a special education expert:

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ON SPECIAL NEEDS
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro

McCain mentioned that Palin knows more about the issue of autism than nearly anyone. What evidence is there of that? 
 
Because Palin has a child with Down Syndrome, it can be safely assumed she feels a connection with parents of children with special needs.
 
But what does McCain-Palin specifically want to do about special education? Do they agree with IDEA? Do they want to expand rights for special-education students to private schools? Do they want to increase funding? Do they want more access, by way of funding, to special-ed advocates?
 
McCain also said they want to help find a cure. But how? 
 
The NIH budget has been slashed in the past eight years. Does McCain-Palin propose additional funding, particularly for autism or Down's research? 
 
We don't know. Nothing was or has been laid out.
Well, we new that already, didn't we. I am glad that the mainstream media are also aware of the candidate's lack of statements on special education. Maybe it won't be ignored in the next election.

Update: By the way, really hated that last question on education by Bob Schieffer. A question to the effect of "by all measures" our education system sucks. That's ridiculous and untruthful and I find it annoying that any question on education has to start with the premise that everything in education is bad. And, bonus annoyance, McCain again went with the line, "Education is the civil rights issue of our time" ... but you already knew that annoys me (2).

Update 2: Jeez, its so embarrassing. Using a child's genetic disorder, whatever genetic disorder he or she has obviously doesn't matter, as a political tool. Classy stuff.
Article originally appeared on The Edjurist - Information on School and Educational Law (http://edjurist.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.