Amid a colossal battle over the future direction of education funding in Alaska, accusations are being leveled against Republican lawmakers who want to see any monetary increases tied to robust and meaningful reforms that might address the decades long decline in student achievement at government-run schools.
Earlier this month, Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a Democratic bill that sought to add an additional $1,000 to the per pupil spending across the state without any reforms to how education is delivered. Democrats were unable to override the veto, and now must go back to the drawing board.
Perhaps the most problematic aspect of the Democrats’ $1,000 BSA increase is the fact that it increases education spending by $275 million with no provisions for how to fund the massive expenditure.
On April 23, the Senate’s GOP Minority Leader Mike Shower (R-Wasilla) issued a rebuttal to a litany of claims levelled against Republicans who insist that greater funding be tied to reforms.
CLAIM: The Legislature has reduced funding to Alaska schools.
SEN. SHOWER: “We’ve never once decreased education funding,” Shower said. “We’ve always funded the BSA. And if that’s the only number you look at, that would be true. But in fact, we have been spending and increasing over years with one-time funding outside the formula. We just haven’t been able to agree on a permanent BSA increase like we’re trying to get to this year.”
CLAIM: Republican legislators oppose an increase to the base student allocation.
SEN SHOWER: “We have been very clear as a Republican Senate caucus, both the House and the Senate minorities, that we support a BSA increase,” Shower said. “We acknowledge that we need it. The issue has been, so far, the fact that we can’t agree on what policy may go with that amount of funding.”
CLAIM: Alaska teachers earn less than the national average.
SEN. SHOWER: According to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, the average salary for a K-12 educator in Alaska is $82,090.22. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national average for K-12 educators is $62,310-$64,580.
CLAIM: The governor is disengaged concerning public education.
SEN. SHOWER: “The governor had a good out-of-the-box idea, brought all four caucus leaders together,” Shower said. “I was there on day one of this with the governor in person as we discussed how this would play out. His people have been involved from the beginning. He has had multiple education bills filed. So, to say that the governor has not been involved in this process at all is absolutely categorically incorrect.”
Shower’s rebuttal ended by noting that the Senate Republican Caucus is “eager to work with the Majority Coalitions, House Republicans and governor to craft bipartisan legislation that increases school funding and adopts policies to improve outcomes.”
9 Comments
Mike Shower? The guy whose campaign signs had the 200 million dollar F-22 fighter on them? Money for war, not for kids — the usual GOP line!
The man is a fighter pilot which is an exceedingly rare accomplishment among even aviators. Means that he was talented enough to be accepted into the program, and diligent enough to complete it. Only a bridge troll would equate that accomplishment to the absurdity that a picture of a plane means money for war but not for kids. Seriously… put your bong away and leave these conversations to the grownups.
The man can be both a fighter pilot and a worthless demagogue. 🙂
Alaskans need to say goodnight to the PFD. It’s slowly sapping the attractiveness of the social fabric. It makes obvious hypocrites of the fiscally conservative anti-marxist, anti-socialism crowd because giving away government money with no strings attached is socialism.
And end the Hilcorp teat suck. Then Alaska will have money again
The original intent of the permanent fund was to put about 50% of the oil taxes aside so the legislature could not spend it all. Instead, the money would be put into a permanent fund to build up for leaner times. Each Alaskan would be issued stock, just like the stock market, to keep the Alaskan resources owned by Alaskans. But it was found that stock could not be issued legally, so the PFD was born. The money issued would be an acknowledgement of the ownership of the state’s natural resources by Alaskans. The PFD was NEVER free government money. It is a percentage of the earnings of the permanent fund, which is itself owned by every Alaskan. The permanent fund is Not government money.
TELL YOUR UNCLE DUNLEAVY THIS SHELIA! HIS CARBON CRAP SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN FOGGING HIS BRAIN! DID HE ALSO FORGET HES THE ELECTED LEADER?
NAEP has Alaska 51st of 53 jurisdictions in reading and math among 4 th graders. 47 of 53 in 8 graders.
Per pupil Alaska is ranked 8th nationally in spending.
We can’t afford to keep paying for poor test scores.
The population of Alaska is dwindling and they spend more money administrators then teachers. We need to get back to basics and just another reason to have a outside DOGE team do an audit of the Alaska education system.
Dunleavy has demanded accountability to go with any BSA increase. I might not have done enough homework, I iike accountability but wonder what would accounability look like? What would be adequate. Certainly what has been done over the last 15-20 is not working very well.
I will say that though teachers “make more” in Alaska once you factor in no social security, no pension, minimal district matching for retirement, cost of living and astronomical health premiums, they indeed do NOT make more and due to this it’s hard to recruit and retain decent and or veteran teachers leaving a very unreliable and untrained workforce. It’s not surprising that test scores reflect this. Though I’d encourage more research into the degrees of separation that make those numbers. I did and literally it’s within easy distance of other states and even top scoring states. We aren’t lagging last, we are neck and neck in a massive tie of overall lower academic standards and scores with our lower 48 counterparts.