Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I hope that you have been enjoying the amazing weather we have been having! It is not often that we see 70+ degree weather in May, but we may as well take advantage of it.
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Dear Friends and Neighbors, I believe that the 2014 session was very successful with a couple glaring exceptions. I call the session successful for the following reasons:
Read More →JUNEAU – Today, on the ninety-fifth and final day of the 28th Alaska Legislature, House Democratic Leader Chris Tuck released the following statement on behalf of the House Democratic Caucus.
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The past week has likely been the most interesting I have experienced during my time serving in the Alaska Legislature. In my last newsletter I wrote about a bill that did too much bad and not enough good for public education. Voting against the bill was extremely challenging. House Bill 278 included a slight increase to the Base Student Allocation (BSA), but it was far from fully funding public education and included too many ill-advised changes, like allowing public dollars to go to private schools and creating an unfair teacher tenure system. Taken together, the bad outweighed the good, which led to my “No” vote.
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Working late into the night Monday, the House had its long awaited debate on the education bill, House Bill 278. In January, the Governor introduced an omnibus education bill and deemed this session the “education session.” At the time, I did not believe the bill did enough for our public education system. After Monday night, I continue to believe we have not done enough for our children, teachers, and schools.
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Before moving to Juneau for the 90 day legislative session, I wrote a newsletter predicting the big issues for this year. Well, it’s day 77. Only thirteen days to go (assuming we do not go in to a special or “extended” session). In this newsletter, I want to give you an update on those issues and where they are in the legislative process.
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