Written by Suzanne Downing
I speak from experience, the experience of an Alaska public school graduate. Alaska public schools are not what they once were.
Once upon a time, we were on top of a mountain. Our students achieved the highest grades nationally. OK, OK, it was the 1970s.
But since then, Alaska has dropped in the rankings and now ranks 49th in fourth grade reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
If Alaska's education system were in the private sector, the product line would have been discontinued and the company would have filed for bankruptcy protection by now. Our state, once the envy of states across the nation, has failed its students miserably.
The state's CEO is a former school teacher and superintendent. Gov. Mike Dunleavy knows Alaska students deserve better. That's why he won bipartisan support in 2022 to launch a major reading initiative focused on the fundamentals to help students read at grade level by at least the fourth grade.
Since he is not up for re-election, what better time than now to enact more meaningful education reform, when the National Education Association can't easily block him?
Or can it?Apparently we can do it if we go after them. teeth It will be up for election, just as the entire Alaska House of Representatives is up for election this year. The NEA has a stranglehold on this state, and that's probably one of the reasons why our students are failing.
In Alaska, school funding has remained essentially flat for years, despite what the education industry has said. The funding formula, or basic student allocation, hasn't changed much over the past decade, but the governor and the Legislature each year use a one-time appropriation to keep the BSA flat in order to keep school programs in the black. While making up for it, the state is looking to rebuild its finances. This is how Alaskans pay for everything they expect from their government in an era of Medicaid expansion and flat oil revenues.
Meanwhile, the state's public schools have lost more than 3,000 students over eight years to private schools, homeschooling, out-migration and declining birth rates. The school board will never cut its budget and refuses to consolidate campuses, close schools or go back to basics. They are stuck in “old thinking” from a time when our state had more oil money than common sense.
For example, the Anchorage School District spends $80 million a year on administration. The overall budget is $547.5 million. In Anchorage, she has 2,424 teachers, more than 2,900 of her “other” staff, including counselors and psychologists, and more than 1,200 administrators (one administrative staff member for every two teachers). There is. Administrators are paid high salaries.
There are 17 school districts in Southeast Alaska, some with fewer than 100 students. But the school district is protective and won't allow integration even though the deadline is long past.
Senate Bill 140 started out as an unnecessary rural internet bill, but ended up becoming a union-led vehicle to increase spending on education without requiring schools to make a single course correction.
Will I get different results if I invest money? Alaska already has a healthy state education budget. Approximately $19,000 is spent per student per year. In addition to basic student assignments, Dunleavy suggested the following this year:
- $8.3 million for school construction and major maintenance.
- $5 million for the Alyeska Reading Academy and Institute.
- $1.5 million for teacher recruitment, retention, certification, and apprenticeship development.
- $1.5 million for continuing career and technical education initiatives.
Yet the education industry is trying to squeeze an additional $2.5 billion into the annual budget without providing an ounce for education reform. Next year, they'll be back for another $500 million.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he would like to see a few things change if Alaskans are asked to invest their Permanent Fund dividends into education.
He wanted another way to get charter schools approved so that union-controlled local school districts couldn't prevent parents from organizing high-performing schools. He also wanted teacher retention benefits, money paid directly to teachers who continue working, rather than to the administration or unions. In fact, unions cannot use that bonus to skim money for dues.
The governor isn't asking for vouchers, but it's a topic that always infuriates liberals. But the education industry balked at the idea of creating more charter schools and paying bonuses.
Some Republicans cringed at the governor's simple request, even though charter schools are the only bright star in Alaska's educational darkness. They didn't fight for the governor. Instead, they ran against him thinking Democrats wouldn't have anyone against them this year.
We are now in a situation where there is a potential showdown between a rival Republican governor and several Republican legislators. Some lawmakers are trying to cheat Alaskans out of their Permanent Fund dividends in order to buy peace with the suboptimal performance of the Alaska Education Association, whose president sends his children to private schools. It's just that.
Some elected officials who ran for office based on conservative ideals are worried that if they stick to conservative values or a conservative team, they will lose the election.
The legislators in question know who they are. All have been contacted by the governor to see if they will override his veto when they reconvene next week. He even gave Congress a respectable two-week window to introduce a replacement bill, with some education reforms in exchange for his signature. They couldn't cooperate enough to move the needle in two weeks.
It's not exactly a Republican divorce, but there's a sense of betrayal and both sides are a bit unhappy with each other. It is not certain, but it is possible that it can be cured.
Dunleavy, on the other hand, is popular with people. He won reelection without going through a second round of vote counting in the ranking process. He is one of the most popular governors in the country, according to Morning Consult polling, and survived a Democratic-led recall attempt during his first term. They rank him sixth from the top of all 50 governors. And he is the highest elected Republican in the state's executive branch, so he is the highest elected Republican in the same way that Joe Biden, the highest elected left-wing leader, is the leader of the Democratic Party. He is the honorary leader of the Republican Party. party.
That's not what the “AKLibraryChick” caucus is saying on X/Twitter. She says he's the most hated person since Alaska became a state. This is the type of discourse we see at NEA Alaska, and the same type of people that have produced such terrible outcomes in our classrooms.
It's a good thing Dunleavy has tough skin. Because this is what Liv attacks on conservatives every day.
Republicans with whom Dunleavy helped campaign, who asked Dunleavy to be a guest at a fundraiser, and who sought support from Dunleavy, rather than working with Democrats and the AKLibraryChicksters to block Dunleavy's work. , I'd like to think I'll cooperate with him. Successful real education reform means everything to him as a former teacher, administrator, and school board member.
As for Republicans considering overriding his veto, there are some newcomers in Juneau, and many in the House are unaccustomed to negotiations that lead to results. They fear that the NEA's miscreants will target them and remove them from the premiership they just won in 2022. Right now, for some members of Congress, getting re-elected may be more important than coming together as an actual conservative team to create real reform. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to correct something as big as the education mafia.
Last week, we learned that a new independent spending group has announced its support for pro-education candidates. And I don't think that just means promoting spending. We believe that means supporting reform-minded governors and supporting those who actually try to improve outcomes, not just accept the shameful and suboptimal status quo.
Suzanne Downing is the editor of Must Read Alaska He is a graduate of Juneau Douglas High School.
