Murkowski visits Mat-Su

MAT-SU -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski, on a visit to Alaska over Congress' Presidents Day holiday, said there are three major areas she's focusing on presently in Washington -- the two large spending bills remaining: the energy bill, which presently contains language authorizing a natural gas pipeline and other Alaska projects; the transportation bill, which would increase Alaska's share of federal gas tax dollars by about $700 million each year; and education.

Education was a hot topic among those who assembled in Snodgrass Hall at Mat-Su College Thursday morning to hear the senator speak. College staff members, students and community members had several questions about continuing struggles in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act.

"Alaska is not in a unique situation right now," Murkowski said. "It is practically impossible to do what the act requires, such as in the case of students with disabilities. When it comes to testing, everyone is treated the same."

One audience member, an area principal, said she was concerned with two facets of the act primarily -- the mandate that teachers should reach the act's "most highly qualified" standards in each subject they teach, and that the act would lead to a broader use of vouchers.

Murkowski said she agreed with the principal's concerns, and had made it a point to bring the matter of teacher qualification to the attention of U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige when he visited the state last year.

"For us to insist that they have to be teaching in their subject area simply does not work in our smaller schools," Murkowski said, referencing a visit she and Paige had made to a small school in Tuntutuliak. "Academics, yes, are important, and background is significant, but you have to be able to teach. How do you categorize it? It's not neat and it's not pretty. Why should we be getting ourselves bogged down with a checklist that could potentially sideline some fine teachers?"

Murkowski added that vouchers were also a concern to her. She said Congress had allowed vouchers in the District of Colombia on a trial basis, but that was primarily because schools in the district were in desperate need of funding. She said she has not, in the past, been a supporter of vouchers, and argued against them when she was a state legislator.

"Within the state Constitution, it's very clear that state money can not be used for them," Murkowski said, referring to religious institutions, where some of the vouchers would be used.

When asked whether she would champion youth programs such as AmeriCorps, which help young adults gain new skills and develop a commitment to serving their community, Murkowski said she already supports such programs, especially those that provide skill-building alternatives to students who may not pass their high school graduation qualifying exam.

"You're talking about laying off 88 teachers and cutting all those extra programs -- it's too easy to say 'cut all the other stuff that is not core academics,'" Murkowski said. "What happens when they get through 12 years and say they're not going on to college -- have we given them all we need to give them?"

Dr. Paul Dauphinais, director of Mat-Su College, asked Murkowski if Congress had discussed a large infusion of funds to education programs that are hurting around the nation. Murkowski said the topic hasn't been discussed specifically, but extra funding -- $20 million for Alaska -- was included in last year's economic stimulus package. Some funds -- $7 million, Murkowski said -- have yet to be spent, she said, and said she has been working to understand where that money is, and what the other funds have been spent on.

One attendee suggested accelerating the process of turning federal lands over to the state as a way to both increase education funding and provide more access to natural resources. Sixty-five percent of the land in Alaska is owned by the federal government, he said, and about 24 percent is owned by the state. About .17 percent of those state lands, he said, are in the university's hands.

"Maybe we could put that land into a fund to try to bring money into education," he said.

Murkowski agreed, and said she's put forward legislation asking that the process of conveying federal land to the state be accelerated. Of 104 million acres promised to the state, she said, 89 million acres have yet to be conveyed.

"If they continue to convey lands at the rate they have conveyed them over the last 45 years, [Bureau of Land Management] officials say it'll take 85 more years, and I had a representative from [Alaska Department of Natural Resources] say it will take about another 300 years," Murkowski said. "I want it conveyed completely by 2009. There's no reason the federal government can not, in 50 years, complete those conveyances."

Murkowski vowed to continue pressing federal officials to step up the conveyance process so it could be complete by the time the state celebrates 50 years of statehood.

Murkowski returned to Juneau over the weekend, and members of her staff said she plans to return to Alaska around St. Patrick's Day.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.