Governor signs education bill in Mat-Su

WASILLA — Remarking on well-appointed ceremony and well-dressed crowd at Tuesday’s bill-signing event, Mat-Su Borough School District Deena Paramo said she felt compelled to re-appropriate an old, familiar epithet.

“It’s called Valley class,” she said.

The bill being signed was this year’s education bill, House Bill 278, dubbed Alaska’s Education Opportunity Act. And besides the man whose signature will make the bill a law — Gov. Sean Parnell — a gaggle of state and local dignitaries turned out to mark the occasion.

“It’s exciting, but it’s also humbling,” Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner Mike Hanley said of the opportunity to help students move on to college or a career or whatever is next for them in their life.

Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Dianne Blumer said she was excited about the opportunities the bill includes for expansion of vocational and technical education.

“One in every five jobs in Alaska requires a four-year degree,” she said. “The rest require some college or advanced training.”

Rep. Lynn Gattis, R-Mat-Su, chair of the House Education Committee, said that the education bill was a strong focus of this year’s legislative session.

“I felt privileged to be a part of this education session,” she said.

Sen. Mike Dunleavy described teachers as “frontline heroes” in education and noted that passing the bill took a lot of work.

“It was a compromise, but everybody had a fingerprint on this bill and for good reason,” he said.

Barb Gerard, principal of Academy Charter School, touted the pieces of the bill directed at charters.

“This bill not only supports existing charter schools but, I believe, will encourage new charter schools to form,” she said.

Herb Schroeder, chair of the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program at the University of Alaska Anchorage, said the bill helps address what he sees as an education crisis in Alaska.

“Huge amounts of money are being spent, but the money isn’t always spent in ways that promote success,” he said. “We’re paying for failure in many instances.”

Parnell himself said he recognized that the bill had a big focus on non-traditional education — charters and home-schooling and other models.

“You need those opportunities to learn from different means, and the Mat-Su, the Mighty Mat-Su, gets that,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.