In his years in the U.S. Senate, Rick Santorum has fashioned himself as a strict steward of taxpayer money. Time and again he has voted against public spending that violated his fiscally conservative world view.

But when it comes to his own family, the senator is more than happy to feed at the public trough.

According to an Oct. 20 story in the Penn Hills Progress by reporter Vera Miller, Penn Hills taxpayers have been footing the bill to send Santorum's children to a cyber charter school, even though the family lives most of the year in Virginia. The cost: $100,000 since the 2001-02 school year.

Santorum's office justified this to the Progress by noting that the senator's legal residence is in Penn Hills. He owns a house there -- two bedrooms and two baths for his family of eight -- and pays about $2,000 in property taxes each year to the Penn Hills School District.

Compare that $2,000 tax bill to the estimated $38,000 that the district will shell out this year for five of Santorum's children to attend the Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, based in Beaver County.

That's a big windfall for the senator, paid for by the good citizens of Penn Hills -- even though the family spends most of its time in Herndon, Va.

In response to questions from the Progress, Santorum's office explained that he has to keep a residence in Washington to be available for official votes.

This is no doubt true, just as it was for former U.S. Rep. Doug Walgren when Santorum defeated him in 1990, in part by painting Walgren as a carpetbagger who lived outside of his home district.

This, however, begs the pertinent question. Pennsylvania law requires local school districts to pay charter schools for students who live in the district. But what is the definition of "live"?

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania had something to say about this in a January 2000 ruling. In that case, the court said the Cumberland Valley School District had to educate a woman's children after she moved to a townhouse there because:

"She and the children actually live there. They stay there during the days and sleep there at night. Mail and phone calls are received there. Clothing, books and supplies are kept there as well." And that, the court notes, is the "classic definition of 'residence' " in the school code.

Hmm. If I were a Penn Hills taxpayer, I'd sure want the senator to explain how the above description fits his domicile in Penn Hills better than it fits the one in Virginia.

Plenty of U.S. senators and congressmen live in Virginia and send their children to school there. Santorum could do the same if he chose. Of course he's entitled to take a different route. But even if it's legal to do so, is it fair, ethical or moral to stick other Penn Hills families with the bill for that decision when the family spends most of its time somewhere else?

As it happens, this story fits right into a larger one playing out across the country. A very interesting map has shown up on the Internet. It shows how much the states pay in federal taxes compared to how much federal spending they consume. And guess what? The blue states that voted Democratic shoulder more of the burden while the red states that went Republican suck up most of the benefits.

You can check out the map at taxprof.typepad.com by typing "red states" into its search engine.

The site makes reference to a report by the Tax Foundation, which found that 32 states (and the District of Columbia) get back more federal spending than they pay in taxes. Some 76 percent of those states voted for Bush in 2000. Indeed, red states account for 17 of the top 20 recipients, while blue states account for seven of the bottom 10.

So much for those rugged, independent, go-it-aloners who exhale rants against "big government" while inhaling its largesse.

And so much for fiscal conservatives who favor cutting off public funding for others while gaming the system for themselves.