By KEVIN MCCABE
In Alaska, we have debated education funding for decades, yet our results remain near the bottom nationally. The discussion too often centers on how much money we spend, not on whether our kids are learning. While politicians argue about budgets, the price of oil continues to fall, and the PFD shrinks, thousands of Alaska’s children are graduating without the skills they need to succeed in college, careers, or life. It is time to reframe the conversation away from partisan politics, and even the money, and focus on a single, urgent question:
How do we give every child in Alaska the chance to succeed?
Our education system is not failing for lack of money. Alaska already spends more per student than most states, yet our reading, math, and graduation rates lag far behind. The problem is structural. We have built a system that serves adults first, whether bureaucracies, unions, or entrenched interests, while students are left waiting for the scraps of improvement. We cannot keep counting “success” in dollars spent, contracts signed, or jobs saved; we must count success in students who can read, solve problems, and compete in a fast-changing world.
Parents in Alaska are already making their own choices. Both Anchorage and Fairbanks neighborhood schools have lost many students in recent years; many to homeschooling or charter schools, some to private schools. These families are not abandoning neighborhood schools lightly, they are seeking environments where their kids are challenged, supported, and prepared for life. This is not an ideological movement, it is a parental one. It should cut across party lines, income levels, and zip codes.
Governor Dunleavy has rightly called for policies like Education Savings Accounts, charter school expansion, and allowing funding to follow the student. These generally cost neutral tools give parents the power to choose the environment where their child will thrive. But choice alone is not enough. We must also address inefficiencies, such as duplicative administrative structures and outdated district boundaries, that drain resources from classrooms. We must ensure that every possible educational option for our kids is available and held to high standards for results.
Other states are showing us both the possibilities and the pitfalls. Vermont’s recent restrictions on its long-standing tuitioning program, and Illinois’ decision to let its Invest in Kids scholarships expire, are warnings. In both cases, entrenched interests fought to limit options for families, and, just like in Alaska, students paid the price. Alaska cannot afford to continue to follow that path. We must protect and expand choice in ways that fit our state’s unique geography, culture, and communities, and budget. It is hard to justify huge education system expenditures if the kids can’t get to school, or the school is falling down because we have used DOT money to fund education.
This means recognizing that what works in Anchorage may not work in Bethel, and what works in the Mat-Su may not work in Barrow. Education reform cannot be imported wholesale from another Alaska school district or even another state, whether it’s Texas or Vermont. It must be built here, district by district, by Alaskans, for Alaska’s children. That means more local control, more flexibility for rural and urban communities, and a focus on outcomes over systems.
We have an opportunity right now to set aside the stale funding-versus-cuts debate and work together on what really matters: preparing Alaska’s kids for the future. That requires bold reforms, honest evaluation, and the political courage to put students ahead of special interests. It means measuring our success not by how loudly one side “wins” in Juneau, but by how many of our children can read at grade level, graduate ready for the workforce, and step confidently into the next stage of their lives. Those are the wins we need.
The stakes are too high for half-measures or partisan point-scoring. Alaska’s kids deserve better. And if the legislature and others are willing to put them, not the system, at the center of our decisions, we can deliver it.
Can we finally talk about the kids and their education?
Rep. Kevin McCabe serves in the Alaska Legislature on behalf of District 30.
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Start with banning public education. It’s a communist institution. It always has been.
Well said! It will be a great day when kids really do come first in Alaska!
Rep. McCabe is right about one thing: Alaska’s kids deserve better. But where he misses the mark is in framing the debate as if it were simply unions versus students, or money versus results. Alaska doesn’t need more finger-pointing. What we need are reforms that expand parental choice while still protecting students, communities, and the people who keep our schools running.
Parents deserve options — and they should have access to charters, private schools, technical programs, homeschooling, or online models if that’s what best fits their child. But choice without standards just creates winners and losers. If a school accepts public money, it should have to play by the same rules as every other publicly funded school. That means serving special education students and English learners, operating under local school board oversight, opening its books for audits, and treating its employees fairly.
Rep. McCabe is correct that efficiency matters too. In a state where geography and cost-of-living challenges are real, we can’t afford duplicate bureaucracies or schools sitting half-empty while others are overcrowded. Smarter resource use and accountability requirements should be part of any reform, and there are conservative ways to do that without abandoning local communities.
What’s missing from Rep. McCabe’s vision is balance. Parents shouldn’t have to choose between more options for their kids and stability in their neighborhood schools. Workers shouldn’t have to choose between supporting school choice and keeping their rights, benefits, and retirement intact. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to choose between flexibility and accountability.
There is a way forward that offers both freedom and fairness. Alaska can expand school choice, empower parents, and drive results for students—while still requiring every publicly funded school to meet high standards, protect workers’ rights, and remain accountable to the communities they serve.
That’s the conversation we ought to be having. Not one that pits parents against educators, or funding against results, but one that puts Alaska’s kids at the center while respecting the people and principles that make education possible.
—Rick Morgan
President, Mat-Su Classified Employees Association
The shill shills again — how much MORE will satisfy your Union’s greed???
Rep McCabe, you forgot an important part of this issue: we have way to much administration. The increase in the BSA would not have mattered if we had been willing to cut admin down to only what is needed. Our schools need a serious redirectioning, not just a budget battle. It starts with questions like: “to whom do children belong;” and, “what worldview should we teach, what values;” “what does ‘education’ look like;” “what constitutes preparation for success in life, critical thinking skills”? The “feelz” paradigm just fails, always will, no matter how much money we throw at it.