Alaska Education

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin just gave her annual State of the State Address.

She touched on education several times throughout her speech.

Alaska is facing a huge budget shortfall this year thanks to plummeting oil prices.  There’s going to be some belt tightening across the state this year and the governor didn’t dance around the issue.

She said she’s proposing a 7 percent reduction from last year’s spending levels.  That’s a major reduction.

“Now, unless the price of a barrel of oil dramatically increases, soon, we’re looking at a potential revenue shortfall in excess of a billion dollars this year.

So with a close eye on price, we need to be willing to curtail spending as needed. If there’s a shortfall, there are options. It’ll take a cooperative spirit all around to see us through the uncertainty.

I had proposed we start with an overall reduction of seven percent from last year’s expenditures.

This is a real reduction, not just a reduction in the rate of spending increases – as cuts are often defined elsewhere. That’s transparency in budgeting – just as the public saw when we put the state’s checkbook online. We stand ready to work with lawmakers – who hold the purse strings – to amend the budget, as we receive revenue updates in weeks ahead.”

Even so, she promised to fully fund education including the increases pledged in previous years.  More than 21 percent of the general fund will be going towards education this year under her proposed budget.

“We promised public education reform – so schools can plan ahead, and bureaucracies do not smother a school’s creativity or a student’s aspiration. We now take the next step in our three-year education plan – to offer every young Alaskan – rural and urban – the opportunity to learn and work and succeed in the world.

We’ll fully forward-fund all our school districts with more than a billion dollars – that’s more than 21 percent of General Fund expenditures. Education is that high a priority. We’ll focus on early learning, vo-tech and workforce development, an enhanced University, streamlined operations, we’ll hold schools accountable, and we’ll encourage opportunities for students with special needs.”

She specifically said she would like to see more opportunities for children with special needs (a personal subject for her in light of her own special-needs child) as well as more physical education in the schools.

“We’ll focus on preventing disease and promoting healthy living. I’ll ask that physical education be incorporated into daily school schedules, too.

We have alarming levels of heart disease, diabetes, childhood obesity – and all of these maladies are on the rise. Now, I won’t stand here and lecture – for very long – but health care reform on an individual basis is often just this simple: we could save a lot of money, and a lot of grief, by making smarter choices.

It starts by ending destructive habits, and beginning healthy habits in eating and exercise.”

You can read the full text of her speech here.