Dunleavy attacks House plan to increase education funding
The State of the State speech Tuesday included a sermon about school choice from Gov. Mike Dunleavy, along with his flawed interpretation of the Harvard charter school study.
The only choice that Dunleavy needs to make is to support public schools in Alaska.
The Alaska Constitution spells out the mandate, which is to “establish and maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the state.”
What the Dunleavy speech didn’t include was any mention of the message he sent earlier Tuesday to some Alaskans by email urging them to testify Wednesday against a House bill to increase education funding. He should have come clean with all Alaskans about this.
“Speak out against HB 69 and demand accountability in education funding,” he said in his email, not in his speech.
The state House has chosen to move ahead with House Bill 69, a measure that supports education by reversing the reductions created by inflation over the years and investing with an eye on the future.
The next hearings on House Bill 69 to increase the base student allocation over three years are Wednesday at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Here are the details to participate.
The increase would be $1,000 in the next fiscal year, $404 in fiscal year 2027 and $404 in fiscal year 2028.
“Throwing more money at the base student allocation won’t fix our schools,” Dunleavy said in his emailed message, but not in his speech. “We need real policy changes to hold districts accountable and make sure funds are used wisely.”
“I’ll be introducing laws with targeted policy solutions soon, so keep an eye out for the details.”
He says he loves reform. Everybody loves reform.
He won’t say what kind he wants other than taking power away from local elected school boards and giving it to the people he appoints to the state school board. That’s not reform. That’s a power grab.
He wants “better policies, stronger schools.” Who doesn’t like better policies and stronger schools?
“By addressing the root causes, we can achieve better educational outcomes for Alaska’s students,” says Dunleavy. No one has a clue what that mush means.
He keeps claiming that legislators need to be told that “more funding alone won’t fix the problem.”
Dunleavy can’t name a single public official or intelligent person who believes that money alone will solve the challenges of education. Dunleavy is deceiving Alaskans by claiming that those who disagree with him have the idiotic view that money solves everything.
Dunleavy claimed in his email, not in his speech, that HB 69 “just spends more money with zero accountability.”
This claim, one that Dunleavy has been repeating for many years, shows he has zero respect for locally elected school boards, mayors, borough assemblies, teachers, administrators and families.
Dunleavy does not trust local elected and appointed officials because they are not under his control and many do not agree with him. There is accountability in local governments across the state, yet Dunleavy continues to lie about this.
His budget has an exact amount of money proposed for a new $6.5 million airplane, yet he can’t make a commitment to schools. He refuses to say exactly how much should be in the education budget, which is the clearest evidence of his refusal to support public education.
With the numbers proposed so far by Dunleavy, Fairbanks schools face a $31 million deficit in the next fiscal year. If the Legislature matches the funding level from last year, the district would still have a $16 million deficit.
Every time Dunleavy mentions throwing money at a problem, especially in regard to education, he should be reminded that the giant pay raise he engineered for himself and his top employees is a better example of throwing money at a problem than increasing school funding.
Paying teachers more to recruit and retain the best instructors we can hire is not throwing money at a problem.
Providing more money to stop the trend of increasing class sizes is not throwing money at a problem.
Maintaining buildings is not throwing money at a problem.
Investing in education to reduce the number of school closures in Fairbanks and elsewhere is not throwing money at a problem.
Increasing the state commitment to education to bring back music, the arts and other necessary ingredients of a complete education is not throwing money at a problem.
The problem is the governor.
Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.
Write me at dermotmcole@gmail.com.\
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s State of the State speech did not include any mention of the email his office sent Tuesday to get people to testify Wednesday against a proposal in the state House to increase funding for education.