By CRAIG CAMPBELL
In 51 days the Municipality of Anchorage will be sending out the ballots for the April 6 municipal election.
Of course, electing a conservative mayor is absolutely essential to change the socialistic direction of Anchorage, aggressively being promulgated by an uber-Leftist Acting Mayor and Assembly.
Traditionally, local elections don’t have a large participation rate. Unless the conservative community votes in record numbers this year we may end up with Forrest Dunbar as mayor and no change on the assembly. That should scare the hell out of everyone.
Here’s a guy that believes our Constitution is based on racism, has voted for every far-left proposal passed by the Assembly, was a strong supporter of disgraced former mayor Berkowitz, and when Maria Athens first spoke out about Berkowitz lewd sexting photos, Dunbar defended Berkowitz. So much for liberals really supporting the “Me Too” Movement. Such phony hypocrites.
What a disaster a Dunbar administration would be in accelerating the pace of destroying our individual liberties, replaced by entrenched socialism. So, every registered conservative must vote in this municipal election to reverse this destructive path towards a despotic autocracy.
OK, now that I have your attention, let me focus on just as big a problem in Anchorage, the Anchorage School Board. That Board is comprised of six liberals and one conservative. Just like the Assembly, the liberals run shotgun over the conservative, Board Member Dave Donley. He needs some help, and you can give it to him this election. There are four school board seats up for election, all liberals who need to be replaced.
Do I need to remind anyone why these liberals are a failure to our children? Let’s start. The Anchorage School District is one of the largest unified districts in America, has one of the largest budgets of any school district of comparable size, with one of the lowest performance levels. Last year the World Population Review ranked ASD 48th worst, with its Quality Ranking dead last, 50th.
According to an analysis done by WalletHub, ASD ranked last in reading test scores and had one of the highest drop out rates.
For these results we pay $12,628 per student. This is the highest cost per student in the history of the district at a time when the student enrollment (45,366 in 2020) has been on a steady decline since reaching its high of 48,493 students in 2015.
The ASD operating budget for 2020 is $572.5 Million. Just for reference, the municipality operating budget, which is also way too high for a city of only 300,000 people, was $531.9 Million in 2020. Yup, we are paying over $1.0 Billion to support our city and school district. That should make your eyes bleed red with fury.
In the business world, one looks for a favorable return-on-investment. In education, we should expect excellent performance against national standards for the incredible financial investment we are making in ASD. That would be a good return-on-investment, one we are not getting today.
But wait, there’s more. While having one of the nations highest budgets and producing some of the worse results, our ASD pursues a feely, touchy social emotional curriculum, not centered on the basics of reading, writing, and math. No wonder our students are not getting properly prepared for college and life.
And what did we get for most of 2020, a school district shut-down due to coronavirus. Of course, just up the road the Mat-Su School District has been open this entire school year and it has not been a super-spreader center for COVID. The ASD has cowered to the Leftist’s propaganda that to protect our population, we must not open schools to educate our children.
In Anchorage, children stay at home, sitting at a computer like zombies, learning very little, not interacting with other children, and deprived of physical activities, school nutrition programs, and other essentials we have entrusted to our school districts in an effort to educate our future leaders and workforce. ASD is ruining our children’s future.
Think these politicians will give us a tax break next year for the money they didn’t need this year with schools closed. In your dreams. They will keep and spend every penny on a bloated administration, teachers who are not in-class, and unnecessary new and expanded programs as the good book of socialism dictates.
But this week, the wizards at ASD opened classrooms for Pre-K-3. Yup, kids get to go to school sit/kneel on the floor, six feet apart, do their work on the seat of their chair, with no recess, no lockers, and fully masked over nose and mouth for up to six hours. This bizarre set-up feels like a government indoctrination center, not a robust center for learning in a free society.
Need I say more. It’s time to put four conservatives on the Anchorage School Board to reverse this horrific trend.
I strongly recommend you get to know:
- Judy Eledge, a retired educator with over forty years’ teaching and administrative experience in Anchorage and Alaska;
- Pierce ‘Coach’ Blewett, A life-long Alaskan, parent of young children, football coach, and Anchorage School District alumni;
- Sandra ‘Sami’ Graham, a retired educator who held many positions during her educational career, such as teacher, counselor, assistant principal, and principal and was a prior member of the Anchorage Education Association and Anchorage Principals’ Association; and
- Kimberly ‘Kim’ Paulson, a resident of South Anchorage who has three children, two graduates of South Anchorage High School with the third currently enrolled at South.
These four conservatives would be fantastic additions to the school board. They come from a variety of backgrounds, but all are laser focused on bringing change to ASD that will result in measurable improvements in the scholastic performance of all students.
If you like what you see, as I do, connect with them, invite them to speak to you and your friends at your home, donate, and spread the word that Anchorage has four solid conservative candidates for the ASD School Board who will bring a higher standard of education to our community.
These candidates will empower parents, take a community minded approach to education, focus on the basics required to be successful in life, and create more accountability for the dollars we invest in education in this community. They need your support and vote to be successful. Now is the time to take a stand.
I enthusiastically endorse Eledge, Blewett, Graham, and Paulson for ASD School Board. Please consider voting for these four outstanding candidates this election.
Craig E. Campbell served on the Anchorage Assembly between 1986 and 1995 and later as Alaska’s Tenth Lieutenant Governor. He was the previous Chief Executive Officer and President for Alaska Aerospace Corporation. He retired from the Alaska National Guard as Lieutenant General (AKNG) and holds the concurrent retired Federal rank of Major General (USAF).
