Maybe Alaska Should Use the Stimulus Funds to Settle Adequacy Lawsuit?

Last week Governor Palin declared that Alaska would only apply for around half of the stimulus funding for which it is eligible; largely funding for infrastructure projects, but not for operational programs like education (here). This of course was seen much more as a political move than a policy one, and as you would expect, the education community in Alaska is not very happy about it (here). It appears that the court agrees that the Alaska education system has enough money. In a unique school finance adequacy lawsuit, the court in Alaska ruled that the state had provided sufficient funding to meet the constitutional requirement of funding an adequate system. But the court ruled in 2007 that the state has not provided sufficient state oversight and assistance for underperforming schools (Gleason%202-4-09%20Decision.PDF) (commentary here). That lack of oversight appears to have continued, and the court is starting to push the state to improve its oversight role giving it 60 days to make improvements. Maybe Governor Palin should consider accepting some of the federal funding to start to address their unconstitutional oversight system instead of trying to position herself for a 2012 presidential run.