Elementary school parent Christina Turman traveled to the state capital last month to advocate for more education funding, and the Legislature subsequently passed a bill that would have increased funding, but Governor Dunleavy vetoed it.
“I was so irritated after reading the latest press release from the governor that I was preparing to write a letter of some sort to the editor in response, but then my friends and I jokingly said, So why not hold a press conference myself? And one thing led to another, and I thought, “Why not?” So we're just hoping that he actually listens.” Mr. Turman said.
Governor Dunleavy's Fairbanks office was represented by former Mayor Jim Matherly. in the Joy Community Center room for the event on Wednesday, April 10th.
Among the invited speakers, Sharon Hansen, who volunteers at her children's charter school, said flat funding from the state has meant that schools have had to cut back on supplies, remain unfilled, and have reduced class sizes. He said that there has been an increase. Hansen said charter schools need a permanent increase in the funding the state gives them.
“There is no guarantee that any one-time funding outside of the base student allocation will be distributed equally to charters. This is what happened in Fairbanks just last year with the lump sum money given to them by Congress.” Hansen said.
Another parent who spoke, Jomo Stewart, criticized the Community Contribution Liability (RLC), which requires incorporated municipalities like Fairbanks-Northstar Borough to fund schools.
“Our own tax burden on our school district translates into a reduction in the amount of aid we receive from the state.” Stewart said.
He said the Legislature and governor need to change the state school funding formula.
“We will continue to work on this challenge until we get a handle on the Permanent Fund and determine how its proceeds will fund services across the state.” Stewart said.
The group also discussed Gov. Dunleavy's push for more charter schools as a way to improve education, but statistician Beth, a Fairbanks parent and Associated Press math teacher, Jilves said the numbers don't support this claim. Jilves spent 50 hours this week examining Alaska school data looking for evidence that charter schools outperform neighborhood schools.
“We cannot conclude that the performance differences between charter schools and neighborhood schools that we observed are due to charter schools.” Jilves said.
He said only 7% of students attend charter schools, most of whom are from a skewed socio-economic status, with greater parental involvement and more resources for students at home. .
“And as it stands, there is not much support for the argument that the approach taken by Alaska charters is particularly beneficial for low-income students.” Jilves said.
The new education funding bill includes more of Dunleavy's demands, including shifting charter school approval authority from local school boards to the governor-appointed State Board of Education. House Bill 392 was introduced this week by the House Education Committee and will be referred to House Finance. It would also repeal a $680 increase to the base student quota that was included in the bill Dunleavy vetoed last month. If passed and signed by the governor, the bill would result in an approximately $8 million increase for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.
Parent groups posted recordings of the event on social media and YouTube and sent copies to the governor's office.
