It is known that many industries hire lobbyists to convince our state legislators to fund their key programs. These lobbyists roam the legislative halls in Juneau, pitching their want for more money.

Among these is perhaps the most influential special interest group – the public education industry. There are many K-12 lobbyists that are funded by local school districts, government unions, and other independent groups, such as the Great Alaska Schools, that are joined at the hip with the teachers’ unions.

Because it is so costly to travel to Juneau, the average citizen doesn’t stand a chance to “lobby” legislators for improving our K-12 education system. And that is by design. And that is why Alaska has a mediocre – at best – K-12 education system.

And that is why we keep throwing money at the problem rather than demanding increased student performance.

Let’s look at some of the education bills that are being supported by the K-12 education industry and its lobbyists.

Several bills aim to increase funding for K-12 mental health. Another bill looks to provide free school lunches and breakfasts to every K-12 student regardless of a family’s income. Other various bills provide curriculum changes such as civics instruction, CPR, financial literacy, opioid awareness, and sex education.

And there are a multitude of bills that increase funding for schools by changing the funding formula and other various machinations.

Education industry lobbyists actively shepherd these bills through the halls of the legislature. These include the NEA-AK, the Anchorage Education Association (AEA), the Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB), the Alaska Council of School Administrators (ACSA), and various smaller education organizations.

Here are their lobbying data from the latest APOC reports:

The NEA-AK, AEA, AASB, and ACSA receive funding directly and indirectly from members and the local school districts. Here are data from the latest tax returns (Forms 990) for those organizations. Most importantly, note that some also receive government grants:

So, what are these education industry organizations spending their money on? Is it to improve educational outcomes for our students? Not quite.

These organizations are lobbying for more funding for the school districts so that the approved union contracts can be funded.

Here is how it works. The school boards and various government unions negotiate contracts for employees. Once a contract is agreed upon and approved by the school board, the board must find the money to pay for these new contracts. So, these organizations send their lobbyists to Juneau demanding more money to pay for the new contracts.

The legislature had no seat at the bargaining table. Even though the legislature had no say in negotiating contract terms, it is asked to pay for the contract. Many times, it uses your statutory PFD to do just that.

The Association of Alaska School Boards receives its dues money ($631,484) from the various school districts that are AASB members. In effect, the State is funding this organization. This money would be better spent by putting it into the classrooms to teach the children how to read.

Both the ACSA and the AASB have been asked to provide “invited testimony” to the House and Senate education committees. Have you, as an Alaskan, ever been asked to provide “invited” testimony? And even if you were, would you be able to afford to fly there to give the testimony?

In addition to these professional organizations, there are many school districts that spend K-12 funds to lobby the legislature for even more money so they can continue to lobby in the following years.

Here is a list of school districts that hire lobbyists to influence the passage of more funds for K12 education:

Other school districts also hire lobbyists to influence the passage of legislation that will give them more state funding. Their lobbying costs are included in the overall lobbying costs for the local government, so they cannot be broken out. Here are the lobbying costs for those local governments, which include their K-12 schools:

By the way, when you hear about the annual “legislative fly-in” for the education industry, you should realize that you are paying to send elected officials, school district employees, parents, and students to lobby the legislators for even more money so they can travel to Juneau next year and ask for more money.

And after you pay for this, the result is a decrease in your PFD. And little, if any, increase in student performance.

One must ask, “Does the average Alaskan have a snowball’s chance in hell to influence legislators?” 

When it comes to funding the Alaska K-12 education system, it’s “wash, rinse, repeat,” and still the laundered money comes out dirty.

And still our students will continue to rank near the bottom of the nation for reading and math.

Money is power.

Power is influence.

The education industry has the power.

The average Alaskan has none.

The views expressed here are those of the author.

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