Dear Neighbors

Sunday is the official end of session, but there have been tensions between the House Speaker – who gave a speech suggesting a possible extended session - and Senate leaders. Presently, since I have learned over the past nine years that I can’t change any of the minds that will make that decision, I’m walking around those folks in a ducking position and looking right and left a lot to make sure I don’t end up in crossfire.

Except – I did end up in crossfire yesterday, first in a fight over the Governor’s scholarship bill, and then on a last minute move that took increased K-12 education funding out of a bill last night.

Scholarships: Not Just for Middle Class Urban Families

Tuesday I sponsored an amendment, which passed 7 – 4 with bi-partisan support, in the House Finance Committee to improve the Governor’s bill. Shortly after that, the Governor began work to strip that improvement out of the bill. Here’s where we are.

The bill currently contains a needs-based financial aid provision, and a “merit” scholarship that goes to students who take certain courses, and attain at least a 2.5 GPA. I don’t mind a mix of merit and needs-based aid – though we are still wrangling over whether the Governor will support enough needs- based aid to offer meaningful, rather than just token, scholarship money.

There are two problems with the Governor’s “merit” concept. First, many school districts in rural areas don’t offer the courses required to obtain the merit aid. So it’s a false promise to them.

Second, if you are smart, and get your GED, and score high on your achievement tests, you’re not entitled to come back and take the required high-level courses to get the merit aid. We offered an amendment to allow those who live in districts where the required courses aren’t offered, and those who obtained a GED and showed strong academic achievement, to obtain the merit aid too. Our amendment allowed the Department to give students extra time to take the required courses, or to set regulations allowing students to show high academic achievement in other ways. The video to watch the debate on the issue is here.

The Commissioner of Education said the changes violated the “Governor’s prerogative” to have his bill written as badly as he wanted (he didn’t use those last 10 words) – and a rare Rules Committee committee meeting was called so the majority Republican-led caucus could remove the amendment before the bill hit the floor. The amendment was stripped by a vote of 4-3, with Majority Leader Alan Austerman voting with Democrats Chris Tuck and Max Gruenberg. There are still some Democrats and Republicans who will continue to try to improve this bill on the floor.

Education: No Child Left Ahead

Education is the great equalizer. A good education allows children to reach their full potential, and compromising a child’s potential is not good education policy as the United States continues to lag behind other nations on the education we provide.

Late last night we heard SB 84 in the Finance Committee. When the Senate passed it, the bill recognized the reality that as school costs go up, funding needs to keep pace with inflation. So while the Governor proposed a budget denying schools any increases next fiscal year and leaving them behind to struggle with lost staff and reduced courses, the Senate fixed that problem. I was surprised by a last minute move when the bill was presented and had been rewritten to remove the education funding increases. Larger class sizes, fewer teachers, and fewer courses aren’t the way to fix this state’s education problems, and the school districts and officials who have travelled to Juneau have warned of dire cuts without a modest funding increase to offset inflation.

We tried adding the education funding increase in as an amendment that was voted down across caucus lines, with myself, David Guttenberg and Mike Doogan supporting the increase. The good news is that the bill did include some funding to help with vocational educational courses in high school.

Better News

Our legislation to improve public access to Alaska fishing streams passed the House this week. And we are still working on trying to get funding to deal with the Glen Alps parking crisis. Currently, that lot, and trailhead to dozens of edge-of-Anchorage trails, is closed off to parking often by 4 pm during weekdays so most Alaskans can’t use the area to hike. As you recall, that problem started with the city ticketing overflow parkers last summer.

So – I hope to see you back home soon. Session is supposed to end this Sunday, though the chest thumping around here about special sessions is calling the 90-day end date – which voters have called for – into question. I personally think we can get our work done by Sunday, but committee chairs are holding bills needed for us to adjourn; and negotiations over the operating budget are still ongoing. One good piece of news on that front – funds we put in the budget to help keep families with substance abuse problems together (by providing treatment to willing parents), passed yesterday. If this funding is signed in law, it could cut down on the number of damaging, expensive foster care placements. Currently a parent with a substance abuse problem has to wait upwards of four to 12 months for treatment, during which families are separated, and children are placed in foster care.

And – we’ve now matched 40 foster youth with good quality laptop computers. Thanks to the help from the Carr Family Foundation, lots of donors, Amanda Metivier and Tammy Keetch, and folks at OCS.

That’s it for now. Back to the last few days? Weeks? Of work.

As always, call if you have any questions.

Best Regards,