Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, April 13, 2015

Alaska drank the Kool-Aid

We now apparently believe that our state, which holds $75 billion is savings (combined value of Alaska Permanent Fund and Constitutional Budget Reserve) and which levies no income tax or sales tax, is broke.

Or so broke that it can't fully fund basic services like education and transportation.

Here's another example. Both houses of the state Legislature have eliminated funding for the two foresters that oversee the 283,000-acre Haines State Forest here in Haines. That shuts down an office that has operated here for 50 years and lays off the only foresters in a valley full of trees.

This is madness.

Our house is on fire and we're saying we'd rather not use any of the water in the swimming pool to put it out. Maybe next time, when there's a really big fire, we say.

We have become the crazy old heiress, shuttered away from the world, eating tins of cat food and sleeping on a mattress stuffed with millions of dollars.

We need help.

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Tom Morphet

Haines

Don’t target education

This week and next, the focus word for my health students has been "resilient": the ability to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. Originally I chose the word as encouragement for my students as they go through the first round of the newly adopted state standardized tests. Now it has become my focus word.

I am working hard to hold my head high as a teacher. I am a teacher in the great state of Alaska where a majority of our elected officials have chosen to make education the target of their greatest financial cuts. The Senate has proposed cutting an additional $47.6 million from the education budget. Really? I don't think practicing resilience will be an option under these conditions — they are just too much for words.

Cheryl Childers

Anchorage

Alaska’s children are more valuable than mega-projects

Last spring, I joined thousands of community members rallying, writing letters and calling legislators, advocating for Alaska's children by asking for adequate funding for public schools. One year ago, this week, I was in Juneau pleading for the same. Our legislators reluctantly and ultimately gave Alaska public schools a small boost in funding, though not nearly enough.

I am dumbfounded and frustrated that one year later, we are in the same position with all of last year's increases cut, and even deeper cuts in discussion. The Anchorage School District is considering cutting sports, special ed, early intervention programs, and anything else that isn't math, science, language arts, and social studies. How is it that our legislators campaign on the promise of supporting our schools, and then jump right into cutting funding?

Aren't our kids more important than bridges, new buildings, and oil company profits? Mine is, and I'm going to keep fighting for him, and all of Alaska's children.

Cat Coward

Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.

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