From a press release by Education Commissioner Deena Bishop, who abandoned her support for a significant increase in the base student allocation for schools after getting her job in the Dunleavy administration:
“However, funding through the BSA (base student allocation) does not ensure that money gets directly into the classroom to support better academic achievement. I believe that we can improve student learning with strategic funding that supports teachers and high-quality instruction. This approach finds support in an analysis by the Institute of Social and Economic Research, or ISER, presented by Dayna DeFeo on Jan. 9. In summary, the recommendation is ‘a shift in our focus from how much we spend to what we buy with our dollars.’ Additionally, a recently released report by Picus Odden, titled ‘An Evidence-Based Approach to the Basic Student Allocation in Alaska,’ identified specific school improvement strategies that lead to improved student performance.”
A couple of things to note here.
First, everyone in the history of education has said “we can improve student learning with strategic funding that supports teachers and high-quality instruction,” whatever that means.
Second, Bishop is suggesting that both the report by ISER and the report on the base student allocation by Odden support her newfound agreement with Gov. Mike Dunleavy opposing a significant BSA increase.
I think it’s clear that the Odden publication does not contain evidence that justifies her new opinions. The 2019 ISER report that Bishop testified was the basis of the presentation by DeFeo doesn’t help her point about the BSA either. Perhaps Bishop figured she could just name-drop these two and include innocuous quotes for which there is universal agreement to create the illusion that solid analysis backs up her new point of view.
The reason to focus on the BSA is that it allows local school boards, which are in the best position to make decisions about education, to figure out how to improve student learning. The school boards know better than the state or legislators about managing schools.
Among the ways to support teachers and high-quality instruction are: making sure the heat and lights are on in the classroom and that the roof doesn’t leak; keeping the number of kids in each class as low as possible; hiring good principals and other administrators; hiring good support staff; selecting good classroom materials; providing school nursing and counseling; offering music and other arts.
A lot of these and many other key elements of a good education don’t fit neatly into the tiny political box upon which Bishop is grandstanding.
Bishop and every other former school superintendent understand that providing school funding through the BSA allows the most local control and flexibility to improve education.
The Dunleavy approach, now the Bishop approach, is to take power away from local school boards and concentrate it in the hands of the state education bureaucracy and the state school board that is made up of Dunleavy supporters. They don’t trust local school boards or the voters who elect them.
Just before leaving her job with the Anchorage School District in 2022, asked by the Anchorage Daily News about the financial condition of the district, she replied, “Costs have increased incredibly, just like everywhere else. And (not) inflation-proofing that BSA has not kept up with the real costs.”
She was not then spreading the falsehood that she is now that the BSA has no direct link to the classroom.
Dermot Cole, a longtime columnist and reporter from Fairbanks, writes about Alaska politics and other topics on his blog Reporting From Alaska, which can be found at www.dermotcole.com.
