Several hundred people turned out Saturday for a rally at the Capitol building for education funding while lawmakers worked inside.
That’s despite the rainy, snowy, windy weather. Organizer Alyse Galvin was wearing a custom, yellow T-shirt — over her puffy winter jacket.
The shirts say “Keep the promise” and “Respect the process.”
The promise refers to multi-year funding increases budgeted to local school districts statewide that lawmakers and then-Gov. Sean Parnell put in place last year. Gov. Bill Walker has proposed reducing those funding bumps in light of the budget crisis.
The Senate Finance Committee earlier this month proposed major reductions in school funding beyond the governor’s proposal, which is what the “respect the process” line calls attention to.
“As different as those bills were, the big huge cuts, they did not allow for process,” Galvin said. “They did not allow for public testimony. That was all done and voted on after public testimony.”
Galvin is part of the grassroots group Great Alaska Schools. She lives in Anchorage but plans to stay in Juneau through the end of the legislative session.
“The goal is that that we’re going to be the watchdog in the building, translate it to the people in real speak, and make sure that they’re aware that people are paying attention to what’s happening in, not only in the meeting rooms, but also behind the doors,” Galvin said. “We’re gonna kind of keep track of who’s going in the closed doors and hopefully, you know, shed some light for the people.”
The legislative session is supposed to wrap Sunday, though lawmakers have repeatedly overrun the 90-day limit in recent years.
