Okay, no more photos of stuffed elephants -- let's get serious here in the Twin Cities! The National Education Association, the country's largest teachers' union, has released a statement saying they are "pleasantly surprised" by John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Why? Palin is on the record as opposing private school vouchers in Alaska. She has said that if government is paying to send children to private and parochial schools, that infringes upon those schools' rights to craft their curricula free of government interference. Not only does Palin believe vouchers are unconstitutional under her state's current laws, she has also cautioned against amending the Alaska constitution to allow vouchers. "I would caution those who are huge proponents of vouchers to remind them, a lot of the purpose of private schooling and home schooling is for less government intervention,” Palin said on Alaska radio in 2006, during her gubernatorial run. The strange thing is, just two months earlier, Palin had answered an Alaska Family Council survey saying that she supported vouchers. She later claimed checking the "yes" box for vouchers on that survey was a "clerical error." That means Palin stands in opposition to one of the main components of her running mate's education plan. --Dana Goldstein
