Once again Charles Wohlforth showed he is long on platitudes and short on facts. He continues the myth that Alaska does not adequately fund education. He is wrong. Alaska spends more annually than any other state on K-12 and post-secondary students at $53,124 per student.
Wohlforth insinuated schools are closing because of underfunding. Yet he fails to acknowledge that 10 years ago, the Anchorage School District had 5,000 more students than it does now. He fails to mention that 16 schools in the district are operating at less than 65% capacity. Under such circumstances, it is irresponsible to not close some schools.
Wohlforth submits the novel proposition that, “the lack of taxation breeds corruption and incompetence in government.” But he ignores overwhelming evidence that bloated governments with huge bureaucracies are ripe with waste and corruption. Wohlforth does not agree with that experience and he wants you to pay more taxes to prove it.
Once again Wohlforth beat the drum for pre-kindergarten education programs. What he does not acknowledge about pre-K programs is that it will increase employment of union-represented teachers and give them more control over the education bureaucracy.
— Donald Smith
Anchorage
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