Governor addresses education policy reforms

Gov. Mike Dunleavy held a press conference in Juneau Wednesday to answer questions and discredit some of the misconceptions surrounding his recent education policy reforms.

“We’re deep involved in an education discussion right now, which I think is fantastic,” the Governor said, applauding the legislature for jumping into discussions and getting to work.

“I know those discussions are ongoing, those discussions are intense, and they should be. But there is a solution, and there is a package that I think can come together.” Governor Dunleavy also acknowledged that Alaska is a state of extremes but that ultimately, when it comes to education, everyone wants their children to do well, and wants the teachers to do well.

Here is a smattering of the key takeaways from the event.

Base Student Allocation (BSA) increase alone

“If you just put money in the BSA, there’ll be no change in performance, because we’ve done that year after year. Does that mean that schools and school districts don’t need money? They do – we’re putting money in the BSA. But why don’t we target it to the problems we know we have?”

School districts are advocating for a BSA increase and dealing with budget shortfalls: Is it just poor fiscal management?

“There are certainly school districts…that have problems managing their budget. I used to manage budgets as a superintendent and as a school board president,” he said, adding, “The help that a lot of school districts want is just the BSA and that’s like some kind of salve or poultice…We have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that money is being spent the right way. We have a fiduciary responsibility to help people if there’s a problem. So I would suggest people open up their books. Let DEED go in and help them out, and then we can see where they need targeted assistance. There’s no doubt with inflation on energy and a whole host of things, schools need targeted assistance. But why when you look at the spreadsheets there are some school districts that seem to be in balance or OK and others that don’t?”

A legislative attorney has said that the Governor’s proposed teacher incentive could raise legal challenges under the State Constitution because it treats teachers differently based on geographic location and it could also interfere with collective bargaining power of educator unions. Is that a concern for the Governor?

“No, it’s not… We currently pay workers in the executive – troopers, and others – more money to go to hard to fill areas. This practice is somewhat used in the private sector. Sometimes people get paid more because they’re being compensated for job issues or location. We want to get to a point where our small, remote school districts aren’t having to scramble every year to replace people.”

Why is the Governor emphasizing more funds for charter and homeschooling, while public schools are having to cut back on programs and teacher-student levels?

“These are all public schools…Our charter schools are public schools with public school students, with public school teachers with certificates trying to achieve a public educational outcome…There are private homeschoolers not associated with the state - lots of those folks – but your public home schools are public schools.

“I keep hearing this erroneous thing – it’s an error – that charters and home schools are not public...‘Neighborhood schools’ is what we sometimes refer to them as – the traditional schools. Not everybody could do well in a traditional school. I ran the Mat-Su Central School for a while. I could sit here for hours and tell you the specific cases as to why a parent brought their kid to that program – the young lady that was rear ended on the road and severely disabled as a result of that. The mother looks at me and says it’s not going to work for us to bring her to a neighborhood school. The kid that was traumatized by other students will not go to school, but needs to be educated. The parent that works periodically throughout the world and needs to bring their kids with them. That’s number one.

“Number two, we’re not forcing charter schools on people. They’re banging on the door for more charter schools. The parents are, the kids are, and in many cases, teachers that want to teach there are. Why wouldn’t we want to support that especially when the outcomes show that we’re doing well?”

Why are charter schools performing top in the national and traditional public schools score among the bottom?

“Charter schools have a much more narrow focus. As a result, it appeals to a section of society and Alaska, whether it’s a Waldorf approach, whether it’s a science, STEM-based approach, people want to coalesce around. So you’re going to get less turnover there because there’s more alignment as to what people want.

“Charter schools are a more focused approach. Homeschools, similar. I really think we’ve got to get back – and I think this will start the discussion – what is it you want all schools to do? Because it should be reading, writing and math at the top as opposed to just equity, just historically underserved people. Historically underserved people are blowing the lid off our charter school scores. That’s a route to help serve underserved people.”

To see a full recording of the press availability, please visit www.ktoo.org/video/gavel/governor-dunleavy-press-availability-2024021085/?eventID=2024021085.