Dunleavy fails to fill vacancy on state school board for 9 months and counting

The much-ballyhooed Dunleavy plan for “education reform” consisted of allowing the governor’s hand-picked members of the state school board to create new charter schools, bypassing local school boards and school districts.

Last spring the Legislature rejected the reappointment of Bob Griffin—Dunleavy’s point man on education—as one of the seven voting members of the board.

Griffin has made it a regular practice to use misleading statistics in attacking public education. He supports spending public funds on private schools, which is unconstitutional.

Griffin’s removal created a second vacancy on the state school board. The first occurred nine months ago when the term of Jeffrey Erickson of Unalakleet expired.

As I wrote here on October 10, the education department posted on its website that Dunleavy appointed Kimberly Bergey to replace Erickson, saying that she represented the Second Judicial District.

Bergey does not live in the Second Judicial District.

She lives in Palmer, which is in the Third Judicial District. Her appointment means that of the six members of the state board now serving, three are from the Third Judicial District, which includes Anchorage.

State law requires that the school board include one member from each of the four judicial districts and three at-large members from anywhere in Alaska. One of the at-large members has to be from a regional education attendance area outside of a borough. State law also requires that no more than four members of the board can be in the same political party as the governor.

After my blog post, the education department changed its website without a public announcement to say that Bergey was not appointed to represent the Second Judicial District, but to the at-large seat that had been filled by Griffin.

Either Dunleavy hasn’t found anyone in the Second Judicial District who pledges to be loyal to him (and didn’t sign the recall petition) or he doesn’t care enough to make the effort to fill the vacancy.

The governor’s website for boards and commissions has not been updated in 2024 to reflect Griffin’s removal, Erickson’s departure or Bergey’s appointment.

This incompetence is typical. The Dunleavy website is so full of errors that it cannot be relied upon to reveal who is and who is not serving on state boards and commissions.

For instance, Dunleavy’s office claims that Anchorage right-wing radio host Mike Porcaro is still a state employee, even though the Legislature refused to confirm him and removed him from the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission last spring. Dunleavy’s website does not reveal that he appointed former right-wring radio host Rick Green, (aka Rick Rydell) to the job.

Dunleavy’s office claims that former Dunleavy employee Brett Huber is still a member of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, though Huber left that job in July. Rep. Tom McKay said that Dunleavy appointed McKay to the job, but McKay’s appointment was unconstitutional and he couldn’t take the job.

Dunleavy’s office claims that three members of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska who left their jobs as commissioners this year are still regulating Alaska utilities. Janis Wilson, Keith Kurber and Bob Doyle are gone.

Dunleavy’s office fails to mention that two of those vacancies have been filled, one by John Springsteen and one by Steve DeVries.

There are many other boards and commissions for which Dunleavy’s office posts inaccurate membership information.

One basic function of state government is to inform the public of vacancies on boards and commissions and offer opportunities for Alaskans to get involved. A junior public relations employee with no experience could fix this mess in a day or two, but that would require having someone in charge recognize the failure to communicate.

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Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s website for boards and commissions has not been updated in 2024 to show the correct roster for the state school board. Jeffrey Erickson has not been a member since March 1, while Bob Griffin was removed by the Legislature in May.