Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, May 18, 2017

 

Thanks, ASD, for excellent education son received

I would like to express my gratitude to the many fine people, teachers, administrators, and staff working for the Anchorage School District.

My son, Brian Britt, graduates from West High School on Wednesday this week.
He has received an excellent education in the school district, from kindergarten through high school, and for that I am extremely grateful.

We were fortunate to have met and been influenced by the following outstanding people working for ASD over the years:

Becky Harrison-Drake, Patti Welch, Diane Harps, Ann Torpy, Peter Ljubicich, Glen Neilsen, Anna Pohl, Traci Stanley, Sven Gustafson, Coach Ruth Barndt, Kristin Garlatz, Chemene Breiner, Mark Stewart, Rachel Kittoe, Johanna Utterback, Adam Cooley, Jody Nordby, Brett Seeman, Kevin Lynch, David Vano, Yesmid Rodriguez, Rick Stone, Deena Bishop and Ed Graff.

You are all heroes. I cannot thank you enough for the work you do every day and the way you lead, encourage, inspire, care for and teach the students (and often the parents as well. A special thank you to Peter, Anna, and Traci in that regard).
We are so grateful for the education, care, inspiration and leadership you have shown and provided.

— Nancy Nolan
Anchorage

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Take the road less traveled

On a recent episode of a "The Middle" on ABC, the character Axl tells his family that instead of "looking for a job" immediately upon college graduation, he's going to backpack around Europe. Having done so (Africa in my case), I strongly encourage it. To students graduating from high school and college, and to the parents, the idea of international vagabonding for a while is terrific — so rewarding. It's a continuation of education. Encourage them to do so, and to you too: Go!

— Steve Williams
Anchorage

Are we awake yet?

Is it time for this national nightmare to be over?

— Beverly Metcalfe
Anchorage

Dear politicians: Represent voters, not the party, wealthy

As I read the news with trepidation every day, I wonder where our democratic system of government has gone. As a retired high school social sciences teacher, I recall the founding documents of this country. Wasn't there something about "of the people, by the people and for the people?" I don't remember the U.S. Constitution saying anything about "of the party, by the party, and for the party." In fact, that version gives me pause: it sounds very anti-democratic, in fact.
So, who do you represent? Your political party? Is this true? You represent the people of Alaska — all the people of Alaska. Yes, you are affiliated with a particular party (created, I might add, after the Constitution, not an original part of our structure). However, once you are duly elected, you do represent all Alaskans. If that is not true, then there are truly many people in this country who have no real voice. If the default position is to listen only to those in your particular political party, then who speaks for the others? I like to think we are a civilized country. Our leaders should listen to all sides of an issue and make informed decisions based on what is good for all Alaskans, and not be heavily influenced by the official party line or financial contributions.

A system such as ours works well only through compromise. It seems as if we have lost that process. The party of "No" for the past eight years, now has an opportunity to rise above its draw-a-line-in-the-sand stance. Surely you can find a way to reach an agreement on at least some of the things that need attention. I find it hard to understand why we as a nation cannot provided proper health care for everyone. I also find it hard to understand why protecting the environment that we all depend on is not a priority. In short, making the extremely wealthy more wealthy is not your job — representing your constituents as a whole is your job. Please do that job carefully.

— Teri Mader
Cooper Landing

Jenkins' numbers mislead

Mr. Paul Jenkins' op-ed (ADN, May 14) makes the claim the National Association of State Budget Officers say "for 2015, the most recent data available, Alaska's government spent more per capita on its 738,000 residents than any other state — $18,644."

This statement is misleading for many reasons.

First, none of the 29 NASBO "State Expenditure Reports" I reviewed make any claim about per capita spending. The only way I can come close to Jenkins' assertion of $18,644 per capita is by taking NASBO's 2013-2015 report, using the "Estimated Fiscal 2015" number for Alaska's "State and Federal Funds" of $13.767 million and dividing it by his population number of 738,000.

However, this is not the most recent data available by NASBO. The organization posted the updated 2014-2016 "State Expenditure Report" on its website last November. Had Jenkins read this, he might have noticed the newer report shows the 2015 "actual" expenditure number for Alaska was half a billion dollars less than the "estimated" expenditure number he used.

If Jenkins decided to determine his per capita spending expense by using the 2016 estimated expenditure number (instead of the outdated 2015 estimate), he would have used $10.595 million. When divided by the state of Alaska's 2016 population estimate of 739,828, he would have found it was only $14,321 per capita.

All that aside, comparing Alaska's per capita tax to the rest of the country provides little insight into how to solve our fiscal concerns. Because we receive much more money from the federal government than we pay in taxes, comparing our relative ranking by using "State and Federal Funds" will always result in skewed data.

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But at a deeper level, we already know per capita state spending comparisons will always result in Alaska being in a higher percentile. We live in a huge state and have a relatively small population. We don't produce much in the way of the food we eat, nor do we export much in the way of value-added goods. And a significant percentage of our residents live in villages and towns not accessible by roads or are located near shared utility grids.

All this just costs more. Per capita.

— Bob Martin
Eagle River

GOP caucus bullies senators

What a weekend. First, as expected, the Senate voted down any possibility of an income tax this year. Which means we will have to burn through another few billion of our savings until next year.

Next was the May 14 paper, with the columns by Shannyn Moore and Paul Jenkins. Normally, Shannyn and I would not agree on whether it was night or day, but today she was absolutely right on all fronts about the Senate majority actions. Jenkins was in la-la-land about his unjustified opposition to the income tax. It almost makes me sorry I am a lifelong Republican.

The problem in the Senate goes back to the party caucus system. After every election, caucuses are formed, mostly but not always, along party lines. Then the caucus takes various positions. They can be controlled by a relatively few powerful leaders, but each member is expected to conform to the caucus position, or else they lose any power to advance their own constituents' desires.
In this case, the House formed a large multiparty coalition that worked very hard and came up with a plan to help Alaska. They maybe made a few mistakes, largely by including too many issues in one bill, but overall, it would have helped us a lot in letting us stand on our own feet.

But the Senate is controlled by a handful of powerful people who tell us "our way or the highway." It is hard to blame many of the senators, as they have to support the caucus line.

Witness Sen. Mike Dunleavy, who went against the caucus, so lost his seat on the Finance Committee, some of his staff, and was relegated to a tiny, out-of-the way office in the building.

So now we have to wait until this winter to see what might happen. Hopefully some reason will prevail. But next year there are elections again, and some of the powerful Senate leaders are up for re-election. I just hope, we the people, will do what is in the best interests of all Alaskans.

— Orin Seybert
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 under 200 words 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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