Sarah Palin is turning down about half of her state’s stimulus money, complaining that Washington is trying to engineer a bigger Alaskan government with funding for health care, energy programs and schools. Schools? How dare you, Washington?

Fairbanks News-Miner:

Among the money left on the table is about $170 million for education, especially under Title One and for special education; millions for health and human services, including medical records and immunization programs; about $17 million for Department of labor programs, including vocational rehabilitation; about $7 million related to public safety; and several million dollars for energy projects, including some weatherization funding.

Palin pointed out that the energy money appears to require the state to pass a building code, while other funds could result in more state employees and programs that can’t be maintained in the future.

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