End of the tour: Governor wraps up state budget road show with joint chambers of commerce event

WASILLA — Gov. Mike Dunleavy wrapped up his road show this weekend with a trio of appearances in his home, the Mat-Su Valley. On Friday, Dunleavy and cabinet members dropped by the Frontiersman offices for an interview on Valley issues affected by budget cuts. Dunleavy received a warm welcome at the Americans for Prosperity hosted event at Everett’s on Friday and gave the same budget presentation to the joint Palmer and Wasilla Chambers of Commerce Monday afternoon. The House Majority released their findings from feedback offered to them by 1,000 Alaskans. Of those polled, the leading topic was education funding.

“How can you advocate for reading by the third grade when your proposed budget of cutting education by 25 percent puts Mat-Su primary numbers to 29:1 which could result to numbers of 35:1 in kindergarten?” Ryan McKee, state director for Americans for Prosperity, read from a question asked by Christina, a member of the audience during the Dunleavy presentation.

Dunleavy again said that these decisions would lie with the school district themselves.

“I don’t think under these circumstances and these conditions, we can’t do business as usual, but I would also say at the same time, I’m not talking about the Mat-Su as a particular school district, but as a state system, more money does not necessarily mean better outcomes,” Dunleavy said.

Dunleavy posed that for the most part, money is being added to education, and that the state would have to look at different ways of delivering education and partnering with the university to raise test scores. He said that rural districts that spend more on travel and programs would have to prioritize, but noted some school districts off the road system that are still high performing.

“It is not a direct correlation between dollars spent, it is a question of priorities. Any school district is going to have to decide where the priorities are,” Alaska Policy Forum Director of Operations Larry Barsukoff said.

While the Mat-Su would not be as harshly affected by cuts to the University of Alaska, Office of Management and Budget Director Donna Arduin said that the outcomes were not high enough for the amount of dollars spent and so the administration challenged the university to reduce its spending and increase its outcomes. Dunleavy noted that he received degrees from the University of Alaska and will have two of his three daughters attending campus in the state this fall. Dunleavy also noted that he felt the university could be more aggressive in asking for alumni donations. Teachers lined Bogard Road in protest of Dunleavy’s cuts to education during Dunleavy’s appearance at Everett’s.

“It does seem like one of those things that are first on the chopping block,” Colony High School teacher Stephanie Haase said. “I think it’s frightening for me.”

While outbursts became the expectation at Dunleavy’s previous stops, he received a standing ovation from a crowd of voters who cast their ballots predominantly in favor of the 6-foot-7 former state senator. Deputy Chief of Staff and most recent Americans for Prosperity President Jeremy Price kicked off the meeting on Friday by introducing Dunleavy.

“Folks let me lay out the problem, we’ve got a $1.6 billion deficit and there are only a few ways to resolve that crisis,” Price said.

“Oil taxes!” shouted a man over a cough from the front row.

The discussion on taxes did not stop there.

“How can actions that will crush the Alaskan economy possibly be good for anyone but corporations and the super wealthy like your campaign contributors, who will come in and buy Alaska for pennies on the dollar while real Alaskans leave or go broke,” McKee read.

A combination of laughter and timid applause began halfway through the question and persisted after McKee was done reading. Dunleavy said he would do his best to answer.

“I’m not sure how taking more money out of the private sector, you guys remember we don’t have a printing press and I’m not trying to be a wise guy, but we don’t. I’m not sure the federal government, which by the way has a $23 trillion debt growing, but we won’t talk about that. In any event, I don’t see the solution taking more money out of the private sector. I don’t see how that helps the economy,” Dunleavy said.

A variety of questions asked about taxes of various types, to which Dunleavy usually replied that the administration was waiting on the study.

“From Casey, we need to have real impact evaluations about education and public services before we approve cuts. Have you planned for these types of evaluations before you implemented cuts?” McKee said, reading a question from the audience.

Dunleavy said that our back is against the wall and the time for studies has passed.

“We’re going to end up with no money at all going into the PFD. it just doesn’t work that way anymore, I wish it did. I wish logic ruled the day but it doesn’t,” Dunleavy said. “If for some reason your legislator says to you no, you have to wonder why you even sent them down there and who they’re actually representing. These constitutional amendments will help fix this problem. If you get those in place, if you get those passed out, we have some opportunity to have discussions with the legislature on what this budget is going to look like, but in the end with less than $2 million left in the CBR, if there are no reductions to this budget or not substantial reductions to this budget, I’ll use every tool I have to get this budget in line.”

Dunleavy’s unique experience as a senator and former president of the Mat-Su Borough School Board apparently did not play a role in his decision to cut Valley specific programs.

“We’re very curious as to why if agriculture is so vital to not only the economy but the history of the Mat-Su Valley why that fell on the chopping block?” Dunleavy was asked during an interview with Frontiersman editorial staff.

“We have a $1.6 billion deficit. Do we need government to have an agricultural program? If you want to be a farmer you can’t do it unless government tells you, you can? I don’t understand that. If you want to be a farmer you can be a farmer,” Dunleavy said. “This idea, poor Alaska. When I came up here in ‘83 and it was a whole different state, you really believed back then that you can make something of yourself and the government was an afterthought, but I will be the first to admit over the years it has gotten to the point now where we don’t believe we can do anything including farm without saying jeez how do we do that? How do we plant that lettuce? Let me get down to the co-op and find out. Here we really can do a lot of things without a gigantic government that we have to pay a tremendous amount of taxes to and PFD.”

Dunleavy was president of the MSBSDSB when the school bond debt reimbursement passed.

“Jennifer, your proposed cut to the school bond debt reimbursement will cost the borough 18 plus million. Our borough manager has said this cost will be put on the school district. How do you see the Mat-Su School District succeeding with these cuts along with other cuts to education you are proposing?” read McKee.

Dunleavy did not offer specifics despite intimate knowledge of the program.

“Again it’s a $1.6 billion deficit we have to deal with. It’s a difficult situation for all of us across the board, and again, I don’t take any of these reductions lightly, but we’ve got to contribute to closing this gap it’s not an easy issue,” Dunleavy said.

Dunleavy’s proposed cuts to Medicaid were chalked up as another program costing the state too much money, despite federal matching funds. Both Dunleavy and Arduin argued that no one would lose coverage based off of the budget cuts. Mat-Su Health Foundation CEO Elizabeth Ripley questioned Dunleavy on the Monday joint chamber meeting on how his cuts would affect the booming medical industry in the Mat-Su Valley.

“How will proposed cuts to early education, K-12 education, and university level education positively impact and improve the current statistics of children in Alaska who are and might become victims of sexual assault?,” asked Janel, a member of the audience.

Dunleavy failed to find a connection.

“I’m not sure what the correlation is. I can’t answer that question,” Dunleavy said.

Arduin said that the administration was working with the centers for Medicaid and Medicare to try to change the delivery method for health care, but that no one would have their coverage dropped. Barsukoff pointed at statistics that the expansion of Medicaid resulted in more recipients who are not working. Barsukoff said that they wanted to encourage people to do something with their lives and get out of the trap of government dependency.

“On your list of priorities, where would you place the health of Alaskans? How can your proposed cuts to children, seniors, and adult Medicaid be reconciled to our moral compass to care for our brothers?” McKee read.

Dunleavy again connected this issue to the deficit.

“Again, this is a $1.6 billion issue,” Dunleavy said. “If you take from here and fill over here, somebody’s going to be left out or impacted; and so, it’s not an easy situation. It’s something that we have to be discussing but in the end, our approach is to try and close this for reductions.”

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.