Dunleavy wants Alaska schools to promote resource development in classroom

An industry group called “Alaska Resource Education” has long been creating materials for Alaska schools to promote the virtues of oil and gas, mining and forestry development.

The materials on its website have value, but the organization doesn’t always admit that there are valid opinions among Alaskans other than those dear to the hearts of the Resource Development Council and Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Dunleavy’s view of resource development is to say yes to everything without blinking.

“There’s too much ‘no,’” Dunleavy told the Daily News-Miner in January. “No trucks on the road from Tetlin to Fort Knox, no West Susitna Access Road, no Ambler Road, no King Cove Road. No timber, no logging in the Tongass. No this. No that.”

“So I need Alaska to say yes to everything,” he said.

One way of getting people to say yes to everything is to change what kids are taught in school.

Under Dunleavy, the state is quickly becoming the major benefactor of Alaska Resource Education, which he wants to use as a tool to disseminate his political views—those shared by the private companies that exist to make a profit from Alaska resources—in public schools.

The only private company listed as a “sustaining partner” by Alaska Resource Education, providing more than $40,000, is ConocoPhillips. The smaller donors are from mining, construction, transportation, communications, etc.

Alaska Resource Education had total income of $666,919 in 2020, the most recent year for which IRS tax filings are available.

In the last year, the state has chipped in multiple times.

Last spring the Alaska Permanent Fund gave the group a one-year $75,000 contract for “youth outreach and education” that could last up to five years—with renewals—for a total of $335,000. Last July, the group got a grant of $29,000 from the state Department of Education.

In November, Dunleavy gave Alaska Resource Education a $500,000 COVID grant, funded by the federal government. On March 7, Dunleavy said he wants to give the group $1 million more because students aren’t being told to think the right way.

The governor who won’t say yes to an increase in education funding, is eager to say yes to the industry’s message.

The $1 million grant is “so that our students are made aware of the fact that Alaska is a resource state,” Dunleavy claimed at a press conference.

“And the benefits that Alaska derives from being a resource state. As many of you know, I have three daughters that are in the resource industry. Three of them work at Red Dog Mine. But Alaska, being a resource state, we think it’s important that our students have an understanding as to why and the benefits of being a resource state,” he said.

Dunleavy is not asking for a balanced treatment of resource and land issues in schools. He is demanding that his opinions are the only ones that matter.

In a House Finance Committee hearing this week, Anchorage Rep. Andy Josephson tried to remove the $1 million from the budget, saying Alaska Resource Education is pushing promotional material, not balanced presentations.

“I don’t think this is the role of government to spend $1 million promoting resource development to a K-through-12 audience. I understand that’s important, I just don’t think that’s part of our public school charge,” said Josephson.

Rep. Will Stapp immediately claimed that promoting resource development is identical to studying resource development, which is nonsense.

”If we don’t want to teach our kids about resource development, even though our state has derived primarily almost all of its revenue in my entire lifetime through resource development, I don’t see any reason why we would fund a university system that gives degrees for mining and oil and gas. So if the concept is to effectively just not do those things, I think that would be very detrimental to the future of our state, especially when we’re thinking about our tight fiscal status,” Stapp said.

The “tight fiscal status” didn’t lead Stapp to ask why $1 million needs to be spent, when there is already plenty of material online available from Alaska Resource Education.

Cronk, a retired teacher, said he wants schools to promote resource development in the classroom because of iPhones, etc.

“I echo the sentiments of Rep. Stapp. As a former teacher, I do believe it’s very important that our kids know where our money comes from. And you know there’s so many, so many things taught in schools that I don’t agree with. But you know so, if we’re gonna play that, what are we gonna do? But I agree if we are not going to teach resource development and how important it is, all the items that are in your iPhones etc., etc. I’m not sure what’s really important. So we have some opportunities, especially in rural Alaska, for projects that are gonna be legacy projects for our people and I want to make sure those kids are knowledgeable and ready for those jobs when they come available.”

The point of education is not to force-feed children the politics of their elders. It is to equip them with the tools they need to learn how to think. Alaska Resource Education doesn’t do that.

Josephson and Reps. Sara Hannan and Dan Ortiz voted to cut the $1 million.

Stapp, Cronk and Reps. Frank Tomaszewski, Alyse Galvin, Bryce Edgmon, Neal Foster, Julie Coulombe and DeLena Johnson voted to give the $1 million to the industry group. They needed no explanation of what the money would be spent on and no justification. They didn’t bother to examine the materials they want the state to subsidize.

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