School bonds are good for students, jobs, economy

To the editor:

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District may need to close another school, the nine-student school in Cooper Landing. While most other school districts in Alaska have static or decreasing student enrollment, here in the Mat-Su we continue to grow — to the tune of nearly 400 students a year for most of the past 20 years. That is like adding a large elementary school every year.

I had the honor of opening three new schools here in the Mat-Su Valley: Colony Middle School in 1990, Larson Elementary in 2001 and Shaw Elementary in 2006. We should all be grateful that the state of Alaska and the residents of the Mat-Su had the foresight to see the need and build these schools.

We have not built a new school since Machetanz Elementary, which opened in 2008 and is now at capacity and already considering portables. Wasilla High School has five portables and continues to grow.

But there is relief on the way in the form of Proposition 3 on the Oct. 4 ballot. Included in the list of projects are six new or replacement schools to be bonded over the course of five years. This means new schools for the Knik road corridor, the fastest growing area in Alaska, plus a much-needed replacement school for Iditarod Elementary; brick-and-mortar schools to replace schools made of portables (Valley Pathways and the Mat-Su Day School). A list of other projects ranging from fire alarm systems to playground upgrades touch nearly every school in the district. And — important to many cost-conscious residents among us — the project is supported with 70 cents on the dollar by the state of Alaska. This bond proposal is good for students, good for jobs and good for our economy.

Learn more about the complete project list on the borough website at matsugov.us/Clerk/ballot-propositions. I urge voters to vote yes for kids and jobs on Proposition 3 on Oct. 4.

Karl Schleich

Retired Mat-Su Principal