February 20, 2013

Dear Neighbors,

Education: Oh yeah. That happened.

“School vouchers” is a term you will hear discussed regularly this session. If education and school funding are important to you and your family then I urge you to pay attention. There are proponents of Constitutional changes to adopt a voucher system for corporate schools – but the danger hidden within this legislation is the number of children who will lose educational opportunities that are currently provided through a robust public education system. Right now, SJR9 is being fast-tracked through the Senate after being stripped of its Education Committee referral and is heading instead straight from the Judiciary to Finance committee.

School vouchers will drain limited money from accountable, local schools and could put them into schools that do not have educational standards. As a product of the Fairbanks public schools, I know the immense, tireless efforts and abilities of the teachers and support staff that work to enrich the lives of students. Routing public monies to private schools is the wrong approach if we want to advance every Alaskan child’s educational opportunities.

Governor’s Oil Tax Giveaway: Track the Progress

The House Resource and Senate Resource Committees have been furiously moving HB72 and SB21, the Governor’s Oil Tax Giveaway bill. The House and Senate are following the same testimony schedule in committee meetings and are slated to hear from small producers, large oil companies, the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, and other invited testifiers for the remainder of this week. Since this legislation is being pushed quickly through committees I wanted to ensure you are aware of the process and can follow along at home if you wish. Click here to link to the information on BASIS. In order for Alaska to get a fair share for our oil wealth, rather than giving away our resources, the Legislature will need to hear from the public. I encourage you to call or email my office if you have questions on any of the components of the proposed legislation. I will certainly keep you updated on opportunity for public comment on this important legislation. You can always send a letter directly through my office which I will forward in the Committees to be a part of the public record.

Online survey opportunity: Tell me what you think today

In the previous e-news I invited you to take a quick online survey to help me best understand your questions, concerns and ideas for this legislative session. I wanted to offer you a final opportunity to complete this survey in case you missed it.

Link to the Survey Here: http://akdemocrats.org/kawasaki/survey.php

Save the Date: Constituent Meeting in Fairbanks March 2nd

I will be traveling back to Fairbanks March 2nd and am excited to hold a constituent meeting. It will be held at the Noel Wien Library from 10:30am-12:30pm. Please save the date and look for more details in the following week.

Working Hard for Fairbanks Families,