School budget cuts tell Alaskans to lay off the snooze button

Frontiersman editorial board

There seems to be a tendency these days to discount the things we don't want to hear. "It's just alarmist claptrap." "Those Chicken Littles are just trying to scare us." "Someone's crying wolf again."

The temptation to downplay unpleasant news will seize the Valley again now that the Mat-Su School District has announced its proposed cuts for next year's budget. Some suspicious voices will surely rise to question the administration's motives. It will be hard for some people to accept the painful truth that our school district simply cannot afford to tread water, let alone make headway against increasing expenses and diminishing revenue. Accept it. Our schools are losing ground, and it's because there simply isn't enough money to do otherwise.

If that's not enough doom and gloom for you, try to imagine this: The plight of our schools is simply the first very visible sign of an infrastructure failure that will begin to choke off services and programs one at a time. Other cuts will soon begin to affect us. Fish and Wildlife Protection is being gutted, raising questions about how poaching and other infractions will be controlled. The end of state food inspections leaves restaurants, schools and other food service entities to inspect themselves without oversight.

While the effects of these cuts slowly sink in, and other cuts begin to appear on the radar, Alaskans continue to scream for the protection of Permanent Fund Dividends and for shelter from taxes. Popular opinion continues to assert that cuts can still be made, government can still be leaner and there are still too many unnecessary programs and services. Moreover, the popular position continues to be that increased resource development will solve all the state's problems. Lost in that argument is the fact that most of those resources are non-renewable, suggesting that resource development is not a permanent solution to the state's economic challenges. What is the long-term plan? Who has a creative vision for Alaska's future?

We hope there are young Alaskans in school right now who can create and nurture that vision. Of course, we'll have to find a way to educate those children now. It will mean letting go of the idea that we deserve something for nothing. It will mean we'll have to stop waiting for someone else to pay the bill and solve our problems. It will mean putting the burden on our collective back and pulling it out of the road to the future. But we can do that. We're Alaskans, and who's tougher than that?