The Alaska Constitution mandates that the State of Alaska must establish and maintain a system of public schools that is open to all children.
The Legislature failed to override the governor’s veto of House Bill 69, which would have provided a 4.6% increase to education funding. In the last few years, the Kenai Peninsula School Borough School District has been able to draw on additional federal dollars to help bridge the gap between funding from the State and the cost of providing necessary services to homeschool students, charter schools, and neighborhood schools. However, the reserve of federal dollars is gone and the cuts KPBSD will now have to make will be painful for many families and students, regardless of where they receive their education.
Without the increase, KPBSD will be forced to pack more kids into classrooms, making it difficult for students to learn. Resource teachers who support homeschool students will be cut and charter schools will get less funding. Classes and programs where students can learn and improve skills, like wood shop, music, art, welding, outdoor ed, sports, middle college, and Quest (gifted and talented) will be cut if not eliminated altogether. Pools and theaters that benefit students and the public will be shuttered. Most concerning of all, schools such as Nikolaevsk, Sterling and Tustumena Elementary schools may close for good.
Many asked how we would pay for the proposed increase to education funding. The State of Alaska has enough revenue to afford a 4.6% increase to K-12 funding. However, it has become clear that some members of the Legislature want to hold education funding hostage so that they can build support for raising oil taxes. This is absolutely unacceptable. We do not need new taxes to afford the proposed increase to K-12 education.
We have a constitutional obligation to educate young Alaskans. Schools in rural Alaska are crumbling into the tundra and schools on the road systems cannot meet the needs of their students. Kids don’t get to pause their lives and wait until the Legislature agrees to provide more revenue so that they can effectively learn.
The Legislature heard loud and clear from hundreds of Alaskans that they want to increase education funding. It’s not a circus or a game. There were hours of conversations, meetings, and public testimony, and what had support passed to the governor’s desk. House Bill 69 would have kept class sizes manageable, programs intact, and schools and facilities open. However, because of the governor’s veto and the Legislators that supported it, we are back at square one.
Getting another bill through this session will be difficult and there is now no guarantee that funding will be secured to keep all KPBSD schools open and learning opportunities intact for Kenai Peninsula students next school year. I am hopeful that through the addition of education funding to House Bill 57 that we will be able to further improve that bill in a way that gains broad support and will become law.
I am honored to be your state senator and I want to hear from you. You’re welcome to call my office at 907-283-7996 or email me at Sen.Jesse.Bjorkman@akleg.gov. I hope you’ll take the time to share your questions and ideas.
