In a highly partisan and incendiary speech, Alaska State Sen. Löki Tobin (D-Anchorage) suggested that those who oppose massive funding increases for government schools are part of the legacy of white supremacy.
Tobin, who chairs the powerful Senate Education Committee, is pushing the state to dump hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding to prop up government schools.
She spoke Feb. 4 during a large gathering of educational bureaucrats who had descended on Juneau to lobby lawmakers for unprecedented increases in public school funding.
The effort was organized by the Alaska Council of School Administrators, made up of district superintendents and principals from around the state. They were in Juneau to pressure lawmakers into increasing the Base Student Allocation – the amount of money Alaska gives each school district for every child they enroll.
In speaking to this group, Tobin tried to make the argument that anyone who opposes dumping more money into Alaska’s failing public schools is part of a long history of racism, bigotry and colonialism that seeks to marginalize blacks and indigenous populations.
“And I dare say this is all because of white supremacy.”
Alaska State Sen. Löki Tobin (D-Anchorage)
Like most Democrats, Tobin favors leftist educational policies that highlight critical race theory and so-called “anti-colonialism,” while pushing for graphic sex education, and the freedom of librarians to shelve sexualized books in public and school libraries with unfettered access to the material.
These policies, in addition to the fact that 70% of Alaska students are failing at reading and math, have led many parents to pull their kids from public schools, which are now hemorrhaging students and facing massive budget deficits as a consequence. Tobin’s talk avoided any mention of why Alaska’s homeschool population has exploded, or that public schools are shrinking in many districts around the state.
Instead, she recounted America’s historic struggle for racial integration in public schools following the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, asserting that her effort to grow the education budget is part of the historical battle to cast off unjust racism, which she believes still actively plagues public education.
“And that’s why we’re still fighting today to decolonize education here in the state,” she told a fawning audience of educational bureaucrats. “And I dare say this is all because of white supremacy.”
Tobin added that current educators are fighting a battle to “decolonize the curriculum,” and “provide instruction beyond the basics.”
“Unless we name it and we call it out it is going to happen again,” Tobin added. “White supremacists did not want to educate black students and they very much wanted to kill the Indian to save the child.”
In claiming that she was continuing the fight to fully realized the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Tobin failed to mention that fact that it was overwhelming members of her own party – Democrats – who opposed integrating schools in the 1950s.
Recalling the post-Civil War era, Tobin suggested that her efforts to pump more taxpayer funds into the state’s education budget was akin to the fight that southern teachers faced when they were threatened by white supremacists for daring to teach black children.
Tobin added that current educators are fighting a battle to “decolonize the curriculum,” and “provide instruction beyond the basics.”
“This is a righteous fight, and let me tell you, everyone in this room is on the right side of history,” she said to enthusiastic applause, adding she and her allies are part of the historic movement for racial justice.
“You are here in Juneau to reaffirm our Founding Fathers’ emphatic belief that education equals not only opportunity but suffrage,” Tobin claimed. “Today you are standing on the front lines for our children. Their souls are in your hands. Our schools are under-funded, they are under-resourced, and thy are bending under the weight of an orchestrated attack, but history tells us that we’ve been here before and that we have prevailed.”
Tobin ended her hyperbolic address by asking the audience to imagine what southern administrators faced when trying to racially integrate classrooms.
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“Imagine what the administrators at public schools in Louisiana and Virginia and North Carolina experienced during integration,” she said. “The fight for equitable public education will come at a great cost. We’ve heard some of what that cost might look like, and I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s probably going to get a lot worse, but I need your passion, our students need your passion.”
Repeating a line she used last year, when some of her more conservatives colleagues affirmed that any increase in education funding must be tied to measurable results, Tobin said she’s “watched as perfect has become the enemy of the good, and I’ve watched devoted education advocates be brought down by partisan politics.”
Tobin concluded by thanking her followers for letting her “pontificate,” adding that she is working on her PhD. in this topic “so I muse about this quite a bit.”
Whether Tobin’s approach will resonate beyond the room of her zealous supporters remains doubtful, but she claimed that her stance somehow transcends debates about funding or even how to improve academic achievement among Alaska’s students.
“It’s not just about learning how to read,” she said. “It’s about fighting for what is true and right.”
16 Comments
Unfortunately, her supporters, who must agree with her on the issues, voted her in. She would be far more persuasive if she took a major pay cut and donated her money to education, but generally libs don’t see it that way since they live in a world of double standards. Many Alaskans might also be persuaded if they could see excellence in public schools, but mostly we see, at best, mediocrity. Face it, Alaska’s schools are not anything like they used to be since they have caved to leftist policies.
Personally, I don’t care what she believes, though I do know that that kind of political “yeast” is insidious.
Anchorage has become the Seattle and Portland of the north. Wont be long until they are also taxed more and more to pay for people who want nothing more then a handout.
To be fair Dave here does seem mention auschwitz a lot more then the average person
Joel and Jen aren’t they a cute couple.
Of idiots!
Happy Valentino day!
Sen Tobin needs to get out more
My mistake Joel and Lucinda! A match made in hell if I know! Happy together day!
Correction for a better fit – “Tobin favors leftist indoctrination policies”.
Those that support dumping massive amounts of money into a failing system that already receives the second largest amount of combined funding per student in the nation, yet produces some of the lowest scores in the nation, simply does not belong in office, making decisions for our state, as they are obviously bereft of common sense, any financial acuity, and exhibit clearly one of the definitions of mental illness, to repeatedly do the same thing over and over, expecting different results. It is so clearly about Tobin’s own agenda and nothing to do with actually imparting real education.
Ms. Henry, you have the correct argument. The state has been pouring money into a failing system that was mandated by the state supreme court back in the late ’70s. A recent study by the state of Alaska administration reveals that much of the money goes to school district administration. Many smaller school districts spend more of their dollars on non-classroom overhead. We should be setting the maximum amount for superintend administration at 25%. The remainder to teachers and classroom instruction.
It’s sad, but unfortunately Sen Tobin is right.
An argument that is propped up by claims of racism is no argument at all. Why is it so difficult for so many to argue their point intellectually? There is much more that can be said, but the discussion ends when someone that is a racist, claims racism as part of her argument.
Students are doing poorly because of the teachers and the curriculum and there is a loss of students and some schools are closing and more money will not improve anything. This woman is a sick liberal whose favorite words these days are white supremacy and gaslighting. No doubt she is a racist along with her other problems. Try getting some teachers that are more interested in teaching the basics and cut out all the liberal crap.
Isn’t there a lot of covid money still sitting around for schools? Also, there are a lot of people disgusted with the Alaska public school system and doing home schooling now. Money doesn’t make anyone smarter.
Wow! Loki, (name appropriated from my culture) deserves an “A” for her hatred, er, I mean passion, by totally absorbing every hateful lesson from indoctrination school. What passion! Every evil “white supremacist” better tow the line or else! Hey Sweetie. those white supremacists you keep going on about are your own party. Ask Biden, if he can remember, how he was against segregation in the schools back in the day. I bet you never learned that the KKK was a Democrat organization.
Chill girl. I think I speak for many by saying I don’t want to throw anymore money down the rathole that is public indoctrination, er, I mean, education.
No matter that the public education “system” teaches to the least, with no basis in meritocracy or incentives to excel. They’re also spending willy nilly to teach in 93 languages despite the fact that children have a facility in languages. 54 districts > 54 Superintendents. Unions fight to keep marginal and unqualified teachers in place. Stop the bloated administration & insanity. The tail now wags the dog.
Please, please everyone reading this needs to contact their legislators and tell them NO to ANY funding increase until it is tied to outcomes and attendance. You can bet any educational increase is coming right out of your dividend. They need to hear from someone other than NEA educators. They aren’t.
Loki is one of the demons on the ethics board trying to get rid of Rep David Eastman. Those demons are coming up with more and more “charges” against Eastman and they are making him pay through the nose for their evilness. Ethics Meeting on 2/16/24 – https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Meeting/Detail?Meeting=HETH%202024-02-16%2008:30:00#tab2_4