By ROBERT SEITZ
Recent news from Juneau has Rep. Rebecca Himshoot of Sitka introducing legislation, which if passed, would increase Alaska’s public school funding by more than 35%.
House Bill 69 represents an increase of nearly $464 million each year to the state general fund. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is reported to have said that he would support increasing Alaska’s education budget by about $200 milliion, provided it is tied to some policy reforms.
Rep. Himshoot has responded that she would not support the push for the policy reforms “because in my mind we have an obligation simply to fund.”
I have stated in other commentaries that the funding of Alaska’s education system must be tied to some criteria so that Alaskans, who are paying the bill, can be assured they will get good value for their money.
The public education system is failing Alaska. Reading and math scores a still way too low and have been for a long time. There are indeed some good programs within various school districts, which produce students who excel.
I was educated in the Alaska public education system, in the 1940s and 1950s, in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Homer. I remember being told a number of times when I was in high school that Alaska was first or second in the nation academically.
I have tried to confirm that but cannot find any articles that address much about the Alaska school system at that time. I do have some confidence that there is some truth to that claim.
Many of my teachers were World War II veterans. I never had a teacher who taught anything that was contrary to what was common knowledge or understanding. Parents were very involved in their students school work and activities. We learned to read and write and do arithmetic. We studied American history, world history, finances, English (literature and grammar), algebra, trigonometry, general science, biology, physics, and chemistry.
I was taught truth, was exposed to literature that was generally not degrading, and generally positive about formation of America, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. All that I was exposed to in school way back then gave me confidence that America was a good place, a place worthy of pride.
During my education I was made aware that there were those who were evil, who deprived people of their just due, who were dishonest and unjust in dealings, and who prevented citizens of their opportunity to “pursue happiness.” It is my experience that the evil in the land is due to the actions of individuals who consciously intend to do wrong. There is nothing systematically wrong or prejudiced with American, but with some of the individuals who live here.
Since my time in public school I have watched the school system deteriorate as many focused on teaching what is wrong with America, rather than what is good and right. I have seen relaxed standards of performance for students under the guise of compassion for those who struggle with school work, when the struggle is where the value is. New math was not a miraculous development, as it was not easier to learn or to teach and no parent, who learned arithmetic and math the old way, could not be a help. Memorization was discarded. I have spent the last 40 years or so encouraging young students to memorize the multiplication tables, but have met resistance because their teachers did not promote that activity.
Now we have public school teachers pushing Marxist philosophy, that gender is fluid, and that America is a land of white privilege. Anyone who teaches in this manner does not deserve a defined benefits retirement package. I have talked to many people about who their favorite teachers were, and all named the one or ones who made them work the hardest. My recommendation is that the retirement rate for each teacher should be by the vote of their former students.
I have said all of this to say that anyone who thinks that “because in my mind we have an obligation simply to fund” is on the wrong track and is totally dishonest in the discharge of their duty to the State of Alaska.
So again, I strongly urge legislators to consider criteria that would have to be met to allow an increase in funding for the school system. One of the problems may be that the teachers in place are not qualified to teach what needs to be taught and should be replaced with teachers who are veterans or who have demonstrated great capability and understanding, who have a love for America and an understanding of the struggle that was made to form this republic.
The burden is going to have to be laid to the local school districts and their representative school boards. Many of the school boards in this state have accommodated or advocated for some of the misguided policies which are now in place in many districts. Many classes, when I was young, had significantly more than 30 students, yet the students learned because the teachers knew how to control their classrooms and the students did their work.
Gov. Dunleavy is right in his insistence on reviewing and changing policies for the Alaska school system.
Robert Seitz is a very long time Alaskan and engineer.
Genuine reform requires burning it down to the ground and rebuild.
Anything else is just burning money.
Hmmm(????) … as per Ms. Himshoot: “because in my mind we have an obligation simply to fund.” Seems like her first ‘obligations’ should include one or all of the following … Responsibility, Integrity, Frugality, Fiduciary, and/or Humble Representation.
A 35% increase in funding towards a failed initiative producing failing results is absolute lunacy, emblematic of throwing good money into the raging fire-pit.
Why doesn’t she think we simply have an obligation to fund the full PFD?
It’s essential at this time to evaluate consolidation of many of the small school districts in Alaska. Many districts have less than 100 students, yet have highly paid administrators. Many teachers in small rural schools are just biding their time until they can transfer to a larger school. Teachers in small schools and small districts often are required to teach outside their subject matter, leading to a reduced quality of instruction.
Add the fact that Unorganized boroughs pay nothing into education and are FULLY FUNDED by the state. Just saying that is an unbalanced situation. No idea of the total $$$$ involved, but it must be huge.
Cheers, Johnson-Ketchikan
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
We keep talking about demanding accountability and reform in our school administrations…BUT…we keep giving them MORE money without the changes we know we need.
Please…NO MORE!!!
No more money until quality of education rises. How come the charter schools are in the top 10 in our nation, yet public education falls in the bottom 5? We are not getting a return on investment with public education.
Have you actually read the report? How many students opted out of testing at the charter schools? Even the report stated that further examination needed to happen, but that is not what Dunleavy and his ilk have reported. Charter schools have the ability to choose who they admit, and who to dismiss from their program. Often time not serving the special needs students, the impoverished students, the chronically absent student, etc. then claim look at how wonderfully we are doing. Governors and legislatures have stripped the ability to retain students who are not meeting a standard whether it be academically or an attendance threshold. They no longer trust the classroom teacher to actual deliver quality lessons, they must follow the text book that was produced by a for profit corporation. They supply the text, make the standardized tests, and then have the remedial supplements when the students to meet the standard. When was the last time you actually in a school to see what is being taught, what standard teachers are trying to have students achieve? If you strip enough money away which has happened in this state you eventually create the failure that you want. The right wants to go back to the days of “Separate but unequal” days of public education.
No more money for a failed education experiment. It’s time to move on and abandon the tired and worn dogma and rhetoric and replace it with something radically different!
and that would be what?
That would be accountability. If the student doesn’t meet the certain benchmarks by grade level, they cannot move on and must be taught till they make improvements. If a child does not attend enough class time or disrupts their classes, they must be repeated. The schools are not meant to be a daycare, and parents must be held accountable as well.
Replace it with new requirements to be a teacher, of course. Education degrees for elementary school, subject matter degrees for high school. A degree in math to teach math, a degree in biology to teach biology, and so forth.
I don’t think anyone knows what tired and worn dogma and rhetoric you are referring to. I certainly don’t. Reading, writing are arithmetic are still worthy things for anyone to learn. I hope you not not saying to let AI into the classroom. I advocate for reading from books and hand writing so that everyone can still communicate when the iphone goes dead.
Tired and worn dogma and rhetoric is, ” it’s for the children”, “school vouchers don’t work”, “if we only increased funding”, “teachers don’t have to have a degree in the subjects they are teaching” and ” every child needs to go to college.” The current education model in the United States is based upon the old Prussian education system that only provided enough education for its citizens to be productive cannon fodder – critical thinking was frowned upon.
Great article. Funding should be based on results. If these schools, administrators and teachers were in the private sector, they would be fired for failing. Results have been poor and have been falling in Alaska, and in Anchorage in particular, for the past 40 years. This cannot continue. Spend less time convincing moody hormonal teenagers that they’re really boys trapped in girls’ bodies and spend more on education that matters. Anchorage teachers failed my children, so we pulled them out and homeschooled them. Same happened when ASD nitwits joined the Branch Covidians and forced our grandkids to learn via Zoom, but also to mask up while doing so. On Zoom. Insane. Between that and the stealth trans movement, we’re now we’re teaching our grandkids at home instead of retiring. NEA and AFT are failing students and failing parents. Hey, but at least teachers are getting raises with hopes of reinstating TERS, right?
No more money until scores improved and education and graduation rates increase. We should drain the pool of unqualified educators and poor curriculum and get back to the basics. Get rid of NEA, tenures and unions.
When do we consider that perhaps the parents play a crucial role in all of this? Thats the one part that is never discussed.
Seitz makes some valid points but obviously hasn’t stepped into an average public school classroom recently. Student behavior is out of control and policy does not support staff with any tools (consequences) to remedy. Parents always blame everyone but their precious child.
There was no greater threat than for the principal to tell me that he would contact my parents if I did not improve my behavior. But when teachers are covering material far from what most parents would approve of, that’s a problem beyond the parents. My teachers generally could control the classroom.
Reforming the state education system can only be accomplished with allowing for competition.
Every family must be able to use the value assigned for their child(s) in any school, correspondence or homeschooling of their choice. The best schools will flourish and the failing schools will fall away.
We are talking about the future of our youth, society, state and nation. This is the most important issue for long term benefit for the citizens of this state to change now.
There must be accountability. Period.
Full agreement with Robert’s statement.
As a past school board member of a board that was dedicated to academic achievement, we knew first hand the plight Robert speaks too. To the point, five of seven board members, myself as one, were recalled by the group think led by militant teachers, stopping our efforts to stage an improvement.
When Robert speaks to “Good Teachers” gives me pause as when I personally discovered a elementary teacher obviously teaching in the dark of her (Never found a male teacher to reward) room, teaching recognized un- approved local curriculum ,(A portion of the challenge this board was addressing) I’d present then with a flowering plant to show my admiration. Within a couple of months these
proven teachers asked me to not do any gift presentations, as when one was given, the militant teachers would then label that teacher as “A Pal of Al’s”
which proved embarrassing.
In Closing, I would say that academics improvement will not see the light of day in any additional education base increase, but what you WILL SEE, is the reduction in your annual PFD as that is the only bucket I am aware, available to fund anything within the state’s needs as perceived by the legislature.
cheers, Johnson-Ketchikan
One of the important things for the current legislature to work on this session enabling oil and gas producers and mining companies to get new work on the books to encourage rapid development of facilities that can provide an increase in revenues from extracted resources. Fill the treasury through industrial development, and maybe they” leave the PFD alone. Anyone who thinks the only way to fund anything in the State of Alaska is by robbing the PFD, they are myopic. We need people with vision.
Teachers and government employees need Defined Benefits, move to Nevada.
Their casinos are apparently a richer investment than a declining oil patch…
So the kids can’t read and write or add and subtract–it’s only money that we’re talking about! They will be following the footsteps of their parents who followed the footsteps of their own! Hell, throw the money at ’em and keep the cogs turning: they need only know who their betters are! If we need good workers, there are plenty south of the border! And if we need scientists and technicians, they can be procured in India and China!
The “SCHOOL” system has become a huge hole in the ground to throw money into, with near zero regard for the education of the students. If it continues down the current course, it will continue to be more dysfunctional. The reality is, the school system needs to go back to basics, teaching science, math, and English. The history classes have become political indoctrination tools and, if the actual history can’t be taught, it should be left out Biology has apparently been bastardized as well, so the human biology should also be left out, if it has to be taught with some idiotic bent to it, as well. Foreign language speaking students should be required to take English as a second language classes, where they have to speak English all day, before they are incorporated into the other classes.
This will bring a big fight with the teacher’s
unions. This is the evil that holds kids from getting a great education. Teachers unions should be blown up and demolished.
No more money for a failed public education system.
Well said Robert! When I first met you in the 8th grade, you were attending school in Homer and I was attending school in Ninilchik. Your description of school during the Territorial days accurately describes my experience. It is strange that we had better schools in those days, when funding was very small. I agree with all of you points. Keep up the good work!
Ken. it was the seventh grade. long time since we have spoken. you still in Anchorage? Think of all the things we didn’t have: TV; calculators; portable phones; swimming pool; track ; gymnasium; But we could hunt and fish and do our chores. And those whose fathers fished got out of school two weeks earlier to get ready for Kings.
Robert Seitz, as usual, is absolutely right. Failed education in Alaska is not a money problem, but a responsibility problem. Parents, teachers, and students need to take more responsibility for education. I believe that should start with returning to the basics, and getting rid of most of the absurd things going on in schools today, like: The “new” (special ed) math. it “fixed” a problem that didn’t exist. Political/trans activism. Teachers or administrators who bring this BS into schools should be fired. They are a large part of the problem. CRT/revisionist history. This garbage should be banned in schools. Actual history should be taught, starting with American history. Phones should not be allowed in classrooms, only tablets or laptops with school material, closely monitored.
A return to the basics is needed.
The next President, Ron DeSantis, has already solved this problem in Florida, with his “Classics” schools, so we just need to follow him.
Good points, Robert.
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Not sure how education-industry reform happens without first reforming Alaska’s election and grand-jury systems.
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Would education-industry vermin do what they do if they really feared voters and accountability?
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This thing you’re describing, what is it but a generational, inbred indoctrination racket whose perpetrators extort more and more money and we’ll pay them or else?
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How do you tear down something this rotten and start over without honest election and grand-jury systems?
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Not saying it can’t be done …the “how” seems elusive at the moment
I work in a rural school in Special education and academic intervention. I’ve also worked in Peninsula and SE Ak schools. I noticed math scores going way down when our school districts switched to common core math. I see the kids I work with struggling trying to understand all these concepts and honestly our math curriculum is garbage. There is so much disconnect in it. I’m shocked we paid so much money for this and now we are stuck with it. You can see which curriculums are working here: ‘https://education.alaska.gov/akstandards/math/Math-Instructional-Materials-District-Review-EdReports-and-LA-Ratings.xlsx
I grew up in K Peninsula schools in the 80/90s. We had the best test scores in the state and I would guess 80% of my classmates went on to college. Many now are high functioning adults working in vast areas from tech to public service to the trades.
A huge problem we face is a disconnect with parents. One school I worked at parents were HIGHLY involved & the school required service hours. Test scores were great. The school I’m at now parents are not involved at all and honestly besides doing homework with their kids there is no way for them to be involved. Kids show up exhausted. No homework done. Half the time not even fed breakfast.
All this to say it’s not only an education problem we are having a parenting crisis in the state right now. Parents aren’t as involved or expected to be involved like past years. Kids can’t succeed if the parents aren’t pulling their weight at home. I can’t teach a kid if he was up until 3am watching YouTube. I could have the highest degree and best curriculum but can’t get anywhere with exhausted kids. Or kids that don’t even come to school.
Well said!
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While growing up and learning your profession, did you see a trend of parent disconnection, maybe more so at some times than others?
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What might solve the problem, motivate parents to be involved? No right or wrong answers, we’re a bit short of fixes on this one.
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From a customer’s perspective, could parental disconnection be related to what’s being taught in public schools, the fact that parent/taxpayers lost control of their school system, recognize it for what it is, want nothing more to do with it …and are frustrated with having to come up with alternatives while paying for an education industry who clearly don’t like children …with a few wonderful exceptions such as yourself?
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Could it be possible some kids are exhausted because parents made them spend non-school hours unlearning what they were taught …and learning reading, writing, arithmetic, and American history the way their parents expect?
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Could it be possible some kids are exhausted from staying up late, burning off unspent energy needing something to occupy themselves, because their school hours demand nothing from them, mentally or physically, that’ll expend (productively) at least some of their youthful energy, maybe even motivate them to communicate some of that school-generated vibrancy to parents at home?
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Why would parents bother with breakfast when they know schools will feed their children?
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What would you do on the first day if you were put in charge of Alaska’s schools?
The reason we have a “parent problem” in educational outcomes in school performance nowadays is because the parents themselves are products of the very same public schools that their children are now being subjected to! Catch-22!!
President Trump mentioned previously that school choice must occur in time for the 25-26 school year, which for most homeschool families, or families confirming public or private sectors with their enrollment, needs to occur by July 1st, 2025. Considering how quickly Trump is cleaning up our government, this is totally feasible… knowing previous Alaskan bureaucracy in the education sector, that is a different story. Our family would like to see an article published on when School Choice will really begin for Alaskan families. We would also like to see how the Administration and State of Alaska in particular plans to hold public sector, private sector and homeschool programs equally accountable, in terms of their spending, their curriculum and their outcomes. We’ve never understood why a public school teacher can, as an example have donuts reimbursed through the district and yet an Abeka chapter book is not reimbursable through any homeschool program. There are significant disparities between what is allowed and considered acceptable even between homeschool programs, one program offers an allotment of this, while another offers half of that. Programs continually chalk this numerical disparity up to services provided and costs associated with that program, but the reality remains quite different. Whether a child is enrolled in a neighborhood public school, a religious private school or a community homeschool program, each student allotment should be the same.
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