Anchorage: Today, NEA-Alaska President Tom Klaameyer issued the following statement in response to Governor Dunleavy’s veto of SB 140.
“I wish I could say I was surprised, however, time and time again this governor has shown that he has nothing but antipathy towards our public schools. This is simply the latest example.
Since being elected to the Alaska State Senate, he has introduced legislation to shred the Alaska Constitution to funnel public money to for-profit and religious schools, has slashed school funding from the budget, introduced legislation that marginalizes at-risk students, and has ignored the findings of his own Teacher Retention and Recruitment Task Force.
Our public schools are crying out for help while the governor’s focus is trained on expensive experiments, meetings in Washington D.C., and pet policy projects that haven’t even been thoroughly vetted by the legislature. By threatening the funding necessary to keep public charter and neighborhood schools open unless he gets his way, he shows a cruel indifference to the fiscal reality all Alaska school districts are facing.
It’s clear that Alaska students, parents, educators, and communities can’t rely on Governor Dunleavy. As the proud president of Alaska’s largest education association, I call on the legislature to show Alaskans what real leadership looks like. I urge them to override the veto of SB 140 and publicly commit to protecting public education funding in the operating budget.”
