Ranting and raving at another unhinged press conference, Gov. Mike Dunleavy aired his usual grievances about legislators, school board members, PTAs, superintendents and teachers who supported the education bill he vetoed.

Every legislator except for Reps. Mike Prax and David Eastman and Sen. Shelley Hughes supported the bill. Legislators will consider an override Monday. At least some of the Dunleavy Republicans in the House will go along with the veto.

The bill would have added about $175 million to the state education formula, an increase that would not be enough to avoid increased class sizes, school closures and layoffs.

In a press conference Friday, Dunleavy repeated everything he said at this last press conference in February, when he insisted that the Legislature adopt his views on education or else.

He still refuses to say what he would support as an increase in the state funding formula.

Dunleavy demanded actions that would increase the power of the state and decrease the power of local school boards in dealing with teacher retention, charter schools and other issues.

He claims the moral high ground and claims that unlike the Legislature, he is the one looking out for families, the one looking out for students and the one who knows what Alaska’s schools need.

“If being confrontational is doing the right thing and having a moral imperative, I’m guilty,” he said.

He also said it was a “moral imperative for me not to kowtow to the NEA.”

His incessant griping about what he can’t get done is a sign of weakness. And now, as he promised in his February whine-a-thon, he is abandoning his so-called attempts to improve education.

“I think at this point we move on, we’ve got, we’ve got energy issues we have to deal with, we’ve got a whole host of issues we have to deal with,” he said at his press conference.

“I think we’re pivoting right now, we’re going to energy,” he said.

“I think the educational discussion is over and we got to move into energy,” said Dunleavy.

This contradicted the statements attributed to him by his handlers in a press release Thursday.

“There is still time in this session to address some of the issues such as increasing broadband speeds for our schools in Alaska. There is also still time in this session to enhance our charter school offerings and methods by which they are chartered,” Dunleavy’s press release quoted him as saying Thursday.

“I will continue to work with legislators, as I have throughout my time as governor, to bring about educational reforms that put the needs of Alaskan families first – not the wants of special interest groups.”

If Dunleavy really had a handle on the governor’s job, he would actually try to find ways to deal with the teacher shortage and investigate what school districts need the most to improve education, instead of arrogantly assuming that he has all the answers and accusing those who disagree with him of being special interests.

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