Democrats in Juneau cheered as students from Juneau campuses skipped school on Thursday and took over the halls of the Alaska Capitol, disrupting the proceedings of lawmakers. House Minority Leader Calvin Schrage said that it’s “what democracy looks like.”
It wasn’t what democracy looked like when protesters took over the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That was insurrection. But for the Democrats who are trying to push through their legislation and can’t get by budget-minded Republicans, teenagers screaming through the halls was good government.
The Capitol ambush was part of an organized statewide walkout that appeared to be coordinated with education industry union members. At schools in Anchorage, students walked out and stood outside their campuses, but because of the Juneau schools’ proximity to the Capitol, it was a youth movement to try to make an impression on lawmakers that schools deserve a massive amount of spending.
The protest was over the veto of Senate Bill 140, which had itself been taken over and had been converted into a way to increase the funding formula for schools at a time when school districts are actually seeing dramatic in student enrollment.
Juneau, for example, is preparing to consolidate campuses because it doesn’t have the funds to support two high schools. Juneau built a second high school in the Mendenhall Valley in 2008, but between Juneau-Douglas High School and Thunder Mountain High School, there are barely 1,200 students now. Many of those students appeared to be yelling in the halls of the Capitol on Thursday, led by a student with a bullhorn.
Democrats Rep. Genevieve Mina, Maxine Dilbert, CJ McCormick, Zack Fields and others joined the students in their protest. Some legislators locked their doors during the mayhem.
