It's time to get back to the business of building strong education

Frontiersman editorial board

A bloody battle over a labor contract may soon draw to a close in the Mat-Su, but the campaign for adequate school funding has only begun. Bargaining representatives from the Mat-Su Borough School District and the Mat-Su Education Association plan to meet Tuesday to begin hammering out the contract language for a two-year deal that has been nearly two years in the making.

That process has left a wake of hard feelings and acrimony between the administration and the teachers, with the school board caught somewhere in between. On the sidelines, students, parents and the community at large could only watch and try to glean something useful from the stream of rhetoric and numbers that flowed out, sometimes in torrents.

The process drew near to a close with a final exchange at Wednesday's school board meeting. Teachers turned out en force to urge the school board to approve a two-year contract based upon an arbitrator's recommendations. In the board room, teachers delivered passionate testimony in defense of their plea for more pay and protection from rising health care premiums. Board members and administration officials repeated the mantra of budget cuts and a lack of funding. They each made good points. They each were justified in their positions. Teachers deserve to be compensated fairly for the critically important work they do. School districts must be funded adequately to provide that compensation without slashing important programs -- and when it comes to educating our children, we challenge anyone to show us an unimportant educational program.

In the hallways outside the boardroom, the talk was a little different. Teachers and administrators each spoke of the need to get the contract behind them and to link arms and turn their collective attention toward Juneau, where the only lasting solution resides in the hands our legislators. We can only hope that as the ink dries on the new contract, they follow through on that resolve. It's a fight we can all finally join in without taking sides against one another. After all, it's our community, and these are our children.

The first opportunity to speak as one will face us when the school district announces the next round of budget cuts. They will be harsh. They will make us angry. Let's not waste our voices blaming the administration and the board for making the tough choices. Let's instead call upon the Legislature to put down the axes and pick up hammers and nails. It's time produce revenue, no matter the political cost. It's time to build an educational system that inspires pride instead of prejudice.