Propositions 1 and 9 would fund school repairs and keep class sizes from ballooning, offering real support for classrooms under strain.
Published: 31 minutes agoMy husband and I feel lucky to be raising our children in the community where we grew up. Our kids attend Government Hill Elementary, one of the Anchorage School District’s outstanding language immersion schools.
With two important ballot propositions in the municipal election, we ask that you vote in support of ASD’s outstanding teachers and in support of families like ours who want to invest in our community for generations to come. Families like mine remember when Alaska was the best place in America to work as a teacher. There were competitive wages and benefits, and what felt like one of the best funded school systems in our country. Today, decades of cuts have put stress on our schools, but Alaska’s teachers persevere. As frustrating as it is to see inadequate funding for schools, I am inspired every day when I pick up and drop off my kids at school. I see the hard work and dedication of Alaska’s teachers who serve year after year, getting to know students, their siblings, and families. It is these teachers that I will be thinking of when I vote yes on the ballot propositions in our upcoming municipal election. I ask you to remember them and vote yes on these ballot measures when I see you at the polls.affecting schools: Proposition 1 is for school bonds — basic maintenance so kids have schools with roofs that don’t leak and heating systems that work. These things are cheaper to fix now than to wait for water damage or other issues to create an explosion in costs. Proposition 9 is for classroom funding — to prevent what will otherwise be a catastrophic increase in class sizes. Anchorage teachers are amazing, but they can’t do their job if there are 28 kids in a kindergarten or first grade classroom. Please vote for Prop 9 to keep class sizes low. Strong schools are the foundation of durable economic growth. I was born and raised in Chugiak, and ASD’s schools provided the foundation for me to be successful in college, law school, and my career. My husband is a homebuilder and remodeler, so we see personally how the quality of our schools drives demand for housing and economic growth at large in our community. We’re also very lucky to have our families here in Alaska. And we see firsthand how we have an aging community with more seniors and retirees. It’s a privilege that our parents can spend lots of time with our kids as they grow up. They can see that our schools are every bit as important today as they were in decades past. If you haven’t been in one of our schools recently, I encourage you to visit your neighborhood school, or the school your grandkids attend. Our teachers put in incredible time and energy supporting our students, and not just in the classroom. At Government Hill Elementary, I see teachers volunteer taking kids to running club after school in the fall and spring, and host ice skating after school in the winter. When kids’ families are facing hunger, it’s teachers and school nurses who send kids home with food so they have something to eat over the weekend, and who make sure kids have snow clothes and gloves when they go play outside in our frigid temps. We face a lot of challenges as a society, and teachers face it all in their classrooms. I know they do an incredible job. The least we can do as community members and voters is support these propositions, so our kids and their teachers have functioning buildings and class sizes small enough for teachers to teach and for kids to learn. Your yes vote is a vote for Alaska’s future and economy. Please join me in voting yes for Prop 1 and Prop 9. After all, it is these children who will be leading Anchorage in the very near future.is a lifelong Alaskan who grew up in Chugiak. She and her husband live with their kids in Anchorage.The Anchorage Daily News welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email
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