North to the future

There’s something about hard times that pulls us together. That’s why we almost welcome the tight budget conditions facing our state.

When we have lots of money, it’s easier to waste time on fluffy, feel-good legislation. We’d hoped this budget crisis would be just the tool to really focus our legislators. But that does not seem to be the case.

We’d welcome a return to the era when elected representatives felt compelled first and foremost to act in Alaska’s best interest. Too often these days votes seem aimed at this or that party’s political base, and in direct conflict with Alaskans’ long-term best interests.

The House of Representatives’ vote to cut $32 million in public education funding is an example.

We know from years worth of research that there is a link between education and prisons. We know if we short-change schools today, we are really saying “we’d rather spend money on building prisons and warehousing prisoners.” And we’re leaving that hidden cost in the shadows waiting for our children to pay the toll in 20 or 30 years.

We cannot cut the budget deeply enough to restore fiscal “wellness.” We can and should reduce spending. But we argue that some funding responsibilities are so important to the future of our state that these functions should be off limits.

Every year we go to battle in this space to defend funding for public education. We strongly support public education and its foundational role in underpinning our democracy. We must invest in an educated electorate. We must invest in trained workers. This is our shared responsibility as Alaskans.

Maybe part of our strong support for pubic schools results from the direct impact we see daily from our Mat-Su Borough School District. We work in public schools regularly. We read to kids, we talk to classes, we cover events. Some of us sat behind desks as students in these same public schools.

We aren’t sure when public education became the whipping boy for the Alaska Legislature. But this pattern must stop. These are all our kids. We support them all. We value them all. And they are all worthy of investment of our tax dollars.

Balancing the budget on their backs year after year sends a different message. It tells our kids we don’t value education. It tells their teachers we don’t value their work.

The House of Representatives has approved a budget Friday that includes deep cuts to education. While the oil and gas industry can invest millions lobbying for a favorable tax structure, school districts cannot.

This proposed cut will ripple across the backs of those least able to object, least able to lobby for their own interests. Maybe that’s why education is such a popular punching bag – it can’t fight back.

As the Senate takes up the budget, we ask those elected to serve the public interest to take a more throughful approach to education funding. The matter is too important to be steered by partisan considerations. So we hope, as the subject is debated, that senators will look not to the right or to the left, but only to the future.