Board president Phil Burdick is a bit tired of state legislators who throw up their hands over education funding. Last year, the legislature passed an education bill with near unanimous support, and then failed to override the governor’s veto by one vote.
Burdick didn’t openly call that a cop-out, but he didn’t exactly mince words, either.
“It’s the job of the legislature,” he said. “It’s constitutionally mandated to fund education, and it’s not our job to solve how that’s going to happen. Legislators often talk about, ‘Well, if you want us to fund education, we’re going to have to take away your PFD,’ and that’s not really our problem. You, the legislators need to figure that out. They need to fund education.”
A new bill, House Bill 69, would increase state funding of education by 30-percent over three years – a boost of over $1,800 per student. The bill was introduced by Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, a former teacher who now represents Sitka, Petersburg, and surrounding communities in the legislature. She co-chairs the House Education Committee, which heard overwhelming support for the bill during a recent hearing in January.
Without an increase, schools would almost certainly lose more positions. The Sitka School District eliminated 18 certified teaching positions this year, and six support staff positions. School board members have been holding informal budget workshops with parents in all the district buildings over the past month, but board member Tom Williams said the public was not ready to embrace the prospect of further cuts.
“(There was) great dialog at the tables until they got to the questions about, you know, what do we cut?” said Williams. “Very enthusiastic about the things that were going on they wanted to keep. I was there looking for some of the takeaways on how we could use it for the budget. But I’m not great in math, but it sounded like a lot of addition and no subtraction.”
Before it starts proposing any cuts, the Sitka School Board hopes to mobilize support within the community for HB69. Attendees at the board meeting were invited to pick up a fact sheet with information about the impact of cuts on schools this year, and the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of legislators most likely to waffle in the event the governor once again vetoes the bill.
Student school board member Francis Myers, who is also a top debater, recommended that letter writers and callers stay on point, and remind legislators of their constitutional duty, and of the profound impact the increase would have on schools.
Speaking from the public, sophomore Sarah Todd personally attested to the impact of the cuts this year, and the need to turn things around in education.
“As a student who has been directly affected by all of the budget cuts and all of the changes that have been made in the school year, I think both passing House Bill 69 is extremely important, as well as this resolution in support,” she said. “I think it would boost morale for all of the faculty and the students, and I think overall is it is extremely crucial for us as a district to stand together and ensure that this is, in fact, something that does happen to improve education for all of our students.”
The Sitka School Board voted unanimously in support of House Bill 69, and forwarded the resolution both to the legislature and the governor’s office.
