Ducking Responsibility: Losing 217 More Education Staff; Police Cuts; and a Volunteer Opportunity

August 28, 2013 Voice Your Opinions! Letters to the editor make a difference. You can send a 175-word letter to the Anchorage Daily News by e-mail (letters@adn.com); or by fax or mail (call them at 257-4300). Send letters to the Anchorage Press via e-mail editor@anchoragepress.com or by mail to 540 E. Fifth Ave, Anchorage, 99501. Feel free to call us if you need factual information to help you write a letter. Contact the Governor. The Governor can be reached at 269-7450; sean.parnell@alaska.gov; or www.alaska.gov. Contact us. My office can be reached at: 716 W. 4th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501; by phone: 269-0106; visit my website at http://gara.akdemocrats.org; or email: Rep.Les.Gara@akleg.gov

Dear Neighbors,

           Sometimes the news reports things as if they just happened out of the blue. With dwindling reporters, it's hard for the media to connect actions by the Governor and Legislature with what happens months later. Well, let's talk about that. And let's talk about that feel-good, but unsustainable spike in drunk driving enforcement you may have read about, and ....opportunities and sobering facts relating to Hunger Action Month.

School Cuts: How About "Choosing Respect" For Public Education, and Student Opportunity?

           In Anchorage we've lost roughly 400 teachers and staff over the past four years. You can't keep slashing teachers, career counselors, guidance counselors, and support staff, and think you are going to give the next generation the opportunity they deserve to reach their full potential. You can duck your head in the sand and pretend slashing teachers is a good thing, or you can hope no one notices, I guess.

           Just this year the Anchorage School District estimates they've lost 217 staff - career counselors to place youth on productive career paths, guidance counselors, and support staff. That's on top of 159 teachers Anchorage has lost in the past three years. Education in Alaska is going in the wrong direction. The formula isn't complicated. No lavish spending. Just keep school classroom funding on par with cost of living increases so we don't keep losing the people who educate the people who we will soon need to run our economy.

           What the Media Has Missed: While the media has reported the losses, here's what they haven't reported. The Governor and Legislature have let classroom funding fall behind the cost of living, forcing these cuts. To shuck and jive the Governor has claimed "increased" school funding. But that's a red herring, and here's what he's talking about. Alaska has, by obligation, placed more money into the underfunded teacher and state employee pension systems, and into busing because of rising fuel costs. But classroom funding (for teachers, books, education curriculum, and the things that help students succeed in class) has fallen behind inflation and insurance costs, and the proof is in the pudding. 400 staff losses in three years in Anchorage. Hundreds statewide. Hard to argue you'd lavished money on schools when they are cutting staff because of a lack of funds allowed to be used for the classroom.

           And the media did little reporting on efforts to avert these cuts. The culprit is party line voting. This year, and in years past, I and other Democrats filed legislation and amendments that were voted down along caucus lines that would have averted these cuts, and restored positions cut in recent years. Here is the amendment we proposed and roll call for that House vote, and here is the bill we filed this year, House Bill 95. But the GOP leadership hasn't seen this as a priority and efforts to avert staff cuts have been voted down.

           The excuse? The Governor and his allies say schools should show they are improving while being cut. Hmmm. He'll give oil companies $700 million to $2 billion per year in tax breaks that don't require investment in Alaska - they can keep those breaks or spend them in Azerbaijan or Libya if they want. At the same time kids are told they have to do better with less.

That Brief Spike in DUI Arrests

           You may have read in the news that DUI arrests are up. That's feel good fiction. Every year the Mayor puts police on overtime and spikes DUI arrests. Then the spike disappears because, well, we're losing police officers in Anchorage. At the end of our former Mayor's tenure we had 408 police officers in Anchorage. That has fallen to roughly 355 today, and we are losing more police officers than we are hiring through Police Training Academies. Reasons? Some officers use Anchorage as a training ground since Governor Murkowski and his allies took pensions away from police officers hired after 2004. They come, get trained, get a 401(k), and then leave for a city that offers them a secure pension and better benefits. When officers built a pension in Alaska, they had an incentive to stay. I voted against the elimination of pension benefits for police and others in 2004. The problems we warned of back then are coming true, and effective policing is becoming more and more difficult.

Hunger Action Month: What You Can Do

           September is Hunger Action Month and a great opportunity to get involved. According to the Food Bank of Alaska, there are more than 106,000 people in Alaska who don't know where their next meal is coming from. One way you can help is by volunteering. You could gather food as part of the United Way of Anchorage Day of Caring Food Drive. You can deliver it any time to Food Bank of Alaska, 2121 Spar Ave, Anchorage. You can also volunteer at Food Bank of Alaska by bagging a large donation of Valley potatoes for distribution, or help sort cans from the Day of Caring Food Drive. Another way to help is to volunteer at one of the Thanksgiving Blessing distribution sites on November 25 in Anchorage. For more information, contact Volunteer Coordinator Christy O'Brien, cobrien@foodbankofalaska.org or 222-3116.

           There are other ways you can help too. You can enter a team in the Anchorage CROP Hunger Walk and food drive that will be held on September 22. Click here for more info. Or, you might organize a virtual food drive. Food Bank of Alaska can secure five pounds of food with every $1 donated. You can also make a donation to Food Bank of Alaska through the Pick.Click.Give program. For more information about the Food Bank of Alaska, go to their website at http://www.foodbankofalaska.org/.

And... What do you Like about Your Neighborhoods? Input Requested

           Those who live in Fairview, Government Hill, Downtown and South Addition are being asked to give their input on what they think about their neighborhoods. Fill out the survey here. Your input will be used to promote the historic significance and importance of these four original Anchorage neighborhoods as part of the Anchorage 2015 Centennial Legacy Interpretive Plan.

           That's all folks!

Best Regards,