There’s been a lot of talk about education in Juneau and Anchorage. Unfortunately, a couple of issues are being sidelined. One is the definition of public money. It’s unclear to the general public, and to many legislators, what public money is. Public education is supported with public money.
But can or should public money be used for charter schools? Religious schools? Or homeschooling? The Governor and legislators are blurring the line between public and private funding of education.
Another educational issue not being discussed in Juneau or the Anchorage School District is how to raise the education level of students with the funding level we have. Currently, Anchorage students rank well below the national average. We need to be innovative to raise those scores. What we are doing now is not working.Kudos should go to Chris Tuck because, at the very least, he is asking for ideas to improve education on the budget we now have. If more funding is available next year, great, it will be put to good use. But right now, we need a mayoral candidate who knows we’d better be improving education in Anchorage now with the money we have.
— Victoria Ackerman
Anchorage
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