If at first you don’t concede

In the interest of full disclosure I should say here that while I’ve been drawing cartoons and writing for many years, I don’t make a living at it. That probably doesn’t come as much of a shock to some who have seen my cartoons or read my columns. Instead I pay the bills by being an instructor at a federally funded institution. So while I’m not a public school teacher in the strictest sense, I do have tendencies.

That being said, about a year ago Rep. Wes Keller and Sen. Mike Dunleavy, both from Wasilla, introduced resolutions that would amend the state constitution to allow public money to flow to private and religious schools. The session ended and we all moved on. Well, most of us moved on. Sen. Dunleavy has fleshed out his intent this session with Senate Bill 100 that aims to send public money and to private schools.

Dunleavy admits that the bill is unconstitutional. But he has a solution: amend the Alaska constitution.

Senate Joint Resolution 9 and it’s companion piece, House Joint Resolution 1 aim to remove this legal hurdle to SB 100 by striking from our constitution the prohibition of public money going to private or religious schools.

But in order to do that they need a 2/3 vote in both houses of the Legislature in order for the measure to be placed on the ballot and voted on by the people. Once on the ballot it only requires a simple majority vote to amend the state’s constitution.

So this is a two-pronged attack, umm, I mean approach. Dunleavy’s SB 100 is unconstitutional so SJR 9 and HJR 1 would amend the constitution. That being done our students would have access to all sorts of options, like tax credits or vouchers. Of course, with money flowing away from our public schools those institutions would have options, too. Like whether they should drop art or music, or, increase class sizes from massive to obscene.

A recent article by Richard Mauer in the Anchorage Daily News quoted Dunleavy as saying “You’re purchasing the course, you’re not purchasing tuition.” I guess this was meant to quell any fears that public money would be used to purchase things like incense and Bibles. Instead you would just be purchasing the course provided by the institution that uses the money to buy things like incense and bibles. Can’t you see the obvious difference here? Neither can I.

In that article Dunleavy says the current homeschool plan allows parents to purchase correspondence courses with funds allocated by local districts. In the Mat-Su those funds range from $2,200 to $2,700. The students curriculum and progress are then monitored by the district.

What Dunleavy’s SJR 9 would do is place an amendment on the ballot that would change the state constitution and allow public money to be funneled to private and religious schools. This, he says would give the parents a broader choice in curriculum. In all honesty he is right.

He uses the example of a child taking a course in Latin from Monroe Catholic, in Fairbanks. Shouldn’t students have the opportunity for academic enrichment offered by, what I am sure is, a fine educational institution? That option is not currently available to students using public money. Also not available are courses in ganja cultivation from the church of the divine leaf or a seminar from Hogwarts on fresh eye of newt versus the frozen stuff. However, under our current constitutionally approved system, that Latin course can be had from institutions like Texas Tech or George Washington University.

So this: “You’re purchasing the course, you’re not purchasing tuition” argument seems a little contrived and convoluted. But wait there’s more. SJR 9, if passed by a 2/3 vote in the Senate and then approved by a majority vote of the people would have an aggressive and far reaching effect on public education. It would impact every school and every student in the state. It follows, then, that such a piece of legislation should not be perused by the Senate Education Committee. Wait a minute; did I say not?

Well actually, Senate President Charlie Huggins, also from Wasilla, along with Dunleavy and several right wing religious organizations have said no to that tack. Apparently they don’t believe that a bill that would result in a quantum shift in how we educate our children should be heard in the education committee. Instead, Senate President Huggins, who directs the path of bills going through that body, says he sees this as more of a legal issue and so has steered it away form the Education Committee and toward the more receptive Judiciary Committee.

In that same story mentioned earlier, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce President and former republican House member Andrew Halcro is quoted saying “They didn’t want it to go to Gary Stevens (chairman of the Senate Education Committee). Gary would’ve done a very thorough hearing, he would’ve called people that actually represented facts and reality rather than cherry-picking data and subscribing to theories.”

So to sum this up Wasilla Sen. Dunleavy has presented a bill that is unconstitutional. To remedy that he has proposed a constitutional amendment that would open the door for an estimated $100 million of your tax money annually to go to, not just good old fashioned mom and apple pie Christian schools, but potentially any private or religious institution. Now while I have no problem with anyone dancing naked around a bonfire, I don’t think our tax dollars should pay for the choreography.

In addition, it seems cynical at best that the folks trying to move this through our Legislature don’t see this as an education issue. In the upcoming election, I suggest we present the players in this drama with a lesson plan of our own.

Chuck Legge is a freelance political cartoonist who lives in Sutton. His political cartoons, “The World According to Chuck,” are printed in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman and other newspapers around the state and nation.