Back to the drawing board for lawmaker

JUNEAU — Mat-Su Sen. Mike Dunleavy arrived here in the Capitol two years ago newly elected, but hardly wide-eyed, even as he embarked on a daunting task to not just pass a bill, but to get voters to the polls where they could potentially change the state’s constitution.

He quickly found himself mired in one of the more high-profile debates, this one over changing how the state funds its schools. At times, the discussion on whether public funds should be used to back private and faith-based schools overtook debates on oil taxes, budgets and gas pipeline projects.

Dunleavy’s offering — Senate Joint Resolution 9 — never made it to the Senate floor for a vote that required two-thirds, or 14 votes, to pass rather than a simple majority.

“I knew the odds were stacked against it. I knew there would be a passionate discussion,” Dunleavy said. “I slightly underestimated the misperceptions and misconceptions put out there in an effort to frighten people. I thought this would be more of an intellectual conversation. It turned out to be more of an emotional one and a political one, and I understand this is politics.”

Part of the discord surrounded the committee assignments. Senate President Charlie Huggins of Wasilla said SJR 9 should be heard in the Judiciary Committee rather than the Education Committee, chaired by longtime educator Gary Stevens, from Kodiak.

Neither Huggins, who said he stands by his decisions surrounding SJR 9, nor Dunleavy say they believe a hearing in the Education Committee would have made a difference for the proposal.

It’s basically a case of hindsight being 20-20, Huggins said.

“You can take all of the hypotheticals about what things would look like if we did a constitutional amendment on the funding piece and how it would look if we sent it to a particular committee, and there would be so many variables,” Huggins said. “To try to track all of those down, it’s just not practical.”

As the second year of this legislative session draws to a close, Dunleavy refuses to brood or cry foul, knowing he’ll have to start over next year.

“I’m a teacher by trade,” Dunleavy said. “I believe when somebody doesn’t understand something, I don’t blame them. Instead, I re-evaluate my approach, my facts and so forth, and I’ll try again. I understand this is a political process and what it takes.”

Dunleavy said he’s already brushed off criticism that he hates children and that he’s anti-public education.

He points to his career as a teacher and administrator in the rural public schools, how his daughters attend public schools and how he served on the Mat-Su school board as president.

“My philosophy in education, as it relates to funding, is that I will do everything I can to create programs, support programs and fund programs that meet the needs of the individual child,” Dunleavy said. “Currently, what we do is meet the needs of systems in schools.

“If you don’t like what you’ve built, you can change it. The system is geared to cost more every year. So we will have to give it more money every year. If we don’t want to do that, then we have to change the fundamentals of the system so it won’t cost as much. I don’t think we are there yet.”

House Rep. Lynn Gattis of Wasilla is a former school board colleague of Dunleavy’s, and said she will continue to back Dunleavy’s efforts to advance his position, which she, like Dunleavy, said is simply a stance of “school choice.”

Gattis, who chairs the House Education Committee, said time could prevail, as it historically has.

“I remember 15 years ago hearing educators complain about other changes,” Gattis said. “I remember them saying, ‘oh, no. Look what’s going to happen if you let homeschoolers in. They will take our money away. If we let charter schools in, they will take our money away.’ Now we fast-forward, and I hear how we love homeschoolers and charter schools.

“I hear we have enough choice now. But 15 years ago we didn’t even want to have that. I don’t know who determines what enough choice is. It’s difficult for folks to see something that innovative outside of that box.”

Freelance reporter Steve Quinn is a veteran Alaska journalist who formerly covered state government for The Associated Press.