Legislator surprised by failed school bonds

October 25, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, spoke to the Mat-Su School Board Wednesday about the failed school bonds packages that Mat-Su voters rejected during the Oct. 4 election. The two bonds, totaling $39 million, would have approved funding for three new Mat-Su area elementary schools with the state agreeing to reimburse the Mat-Su Borough 70 percent of the cost of one school and 60 to 70 percent for the two others.

The following is a transcript of Gatto's comments before the board.

This is unplanned, as you know. I was here, and it was a great opportunity to talk to the new board.

I think you know this, but I think people in the audience may not. Sometimes references are made to the state or to the Legislature, certainly to the words &#8220funding schools” and all those issues.

I just wanted to make it clear that with regard to new school construction, it was an enormous struggle at the state level. I will tell you that we went through a very circuitous course to finally get the state to fund schools primarily in the Mat-Su Borough and in Anchorage. We were the big winners, with the state willing to supply 70 percent of the money for one school and 60 or 70 percent of the money for two other schools.

Believe me, most districts had no benefit from this. This was simply one extra cost, but the delegation fought pretty hard. It began as a simple bill that said, ‘can we simply extend the deadline that had already passed to fund schools at 70 percent state money, 30 percent local money?' That bill did not make it to the end.

Secondly, we went on to Senator [Ben] Stevens' bill that would have built new schools across the state, that did not make it either.

Lastly, we discovered that [Gov. Frank Murkowski] wanted a virology lab in Fairbanks, and this was the key. A virology lab is a school, and it deals with funding, so we made an amendment on the bill to simply extend funding for new school construction, of which the Valley was the primary beneficiary.

So for the record - it should be pretty clear to most people who actually watch this activity - this was a very difficult thing to do.

Therefore, I would like to say that it was somewhat surprising to see that, after all of this, that the bonds failed. No blame, that's the way people vote, and I certainly appreciate the vote of the people, and I'm willing to back it up.

You do have a second bite at the apple, and we'll see how that progresses. … I have to say that the state has really come up to the plate rather significantly. … Trust me, your representatives in the state have done a lot.

Remember you have to fight against all those other 52 school districts in the state that are not the Mat-Su School District, and they want something very different than what we want. In fact they are usually opposed to what we want.

They would rather build new schools in their communities, not in ours. … We have to deal with issues like that. I guess the final part of the message is we are working with you.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266, or joel.davidson@ frontiersman.com.