In the heart of every Alaska community lies a school — filled with opportunities for children to learn, grow and thrive. Yet those schools, the very foundation of Alaska’s future, are faced with neglect.
The recent refusal of Alaska Republican lawmakers, including Sen. James Kaufman, to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of $87 million in public education funding, is a glaring example of educational neglect. As a result of the “nay” votes of Sen. Kaufman and his colleagues, the Anchorage School District will be forced to increase class sizes and make cuts to beloved programs like IGNITE and language immersion.
For far too long, public education funding has been used as a political football, and as a result, our kids, teachers and schools are suffering. Our elected representatives, including Sen. Kaufman — entrusted to adequately fund and safeguard public education — have repeatedly failed to do so. Each budget cut, each devastating Dunleavy veto that stands unturned, is like a strike against the well-being of our educational system, hindering its ability to educate the next generation of Alaska’s workforce.
Sen. Kaufman, however, apparently does not envision Alaska’s future workforce as graduates of our public education system. Instead, he sees it as workers drawn to Alaska by the high salaries offered by the extractive industries, which take much and give very little, if anything, back to the state they exploit.
If elected to the State Senate, I will distance myself from my predecessor by taking the unusual step of fighting to reverse the trend of educational neglect and ensure that education and our children’s future are the key priorities they must be.
— Janice Park
Candidate, Alaska Senate District F
Anchorage
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