Bob Griffin named to Alaska Board of Education

By
Suzanne Downing
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4

(1-minute read) EDUCATION ADVOCATE TO FOCUS ON LITERACY

Education advocate Bob Griffin has been named to a seat on the Alaska State Board of Education.

Griffin is a commercial pilot and education advocate who has been working in the area of improving student outcomes since 2009.

He started as a taxpayer advocate and activist for a tax cap in Anchorage, but shifted his focus a decade ago to find ways to raise the quality of Alaska’s education outcomes, which are among the worst in the nation.

Griffin has served as chair of the joint budget advisory commission for the Anchorage School District and the Municipality. He is a member of the capital improvement committee for the Anchorage School District, appointed to that post by former Superintendent Carol Comeau.

He also ran for school board once but lost to incumbent Pat Higgins by one half of one percent.

Griffin was an early supporter of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, but as treasurer of an independent expenditure group called Dunleavy for Alaska, he never had contact with the candidate and was not able to advise him on education matters. But they worked together on school reform issues when Dunleavy was a senator.

A senior fellow at the Alaska Policy Forum, Griffin has stated his number one goal is to improve early childhood literacy in Alaska.

His appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.

(Check back. This story will be updated upon confirmation of which school board member Griffin is replacing.)

4 COMMENTS

  2. Bob Griffin is exactly what Alaska needs to start improving education. He has a wealth of knowledge in what works in other states’ K12 programs. He is a data and facts man. We wish him well and congrats on your new job helping fix Alaska’s K12 system.

  4. “…Griffin has served as chair of the joint budget advisory commission for the Anchorage School District and the Municipality. He is a member of the capital improvement committee for the Anchorage School District…”
    .
    Since Anchorage’s school industry’s union-management-lobbyist team seems accountable to nobody for spending or product quality, one wonders whether this appointment simply portends more of the same, albeit on a grander scale.
    .
    Time will tell.

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