Issues

Our public schools are facing huge challenges. We have been asking our neighborhood schools to do more and more on less and less. We need to provide dependable and inflation-adjusted funding increases so that schools can keep class sizes moderate and attract and keep the brightest and best teachers. Because of a decade of flat funding, students have been losing their elective choices, sports programs, and we see larger and larger class sizes. I’m  hearing of some middle school classrooms with almost 40 kids! We must stop the bleeding now and raise our investment in the future. We must raise the Base Student Allocation, BSA.

Investments in education need to be made at all levels inclduing Pre-K,  K-12, and post-secondary education. We need to invest in our children from a young age and make sure that every Alaskan kid can read by age 8. We need to ensure that students  are ready to enter the workforce after their education pathway is complete. We need more focus on workforce readiness, preparing high school kids for the next step whether it’s vocational technical training, military service, college, or apprenticeships. I am fighting for affordable high quality childcare which will enable more parents to enter the workforce as well. This will help families and businesses alike. 

During the past term, I supported bills to address the accessibility of childcare and to fortify the popular Alaska Performance Scholarship:

• We passed a bill that I co-sponsored that expands child care tax credits to businesses and provides greater assistance to more Alaskan parents. This bipartisan bill will help shore up a struggling child care sector, helping more Alaskans get back to work. 

• Another bipartisan bill we passed removes barriers from the Alaska Performance Scholarship program. It Increases the amounts awarded, and moves up award notices. It also broadens the program to include more CTE programs. This legislation will retain more outstanding students in Alaska. This bill, HB 148, also improves the education tax credit program and reauthorizes the technical and vocational education program providing more funding for workforce development. 

Investing in economic development is critical because it means more good-paying jobs and stronger local businesses. It helps our community grow and gives people more opportunities to succeed right here at home. When economic development projects are approved and implemented we need a home grown workforce of residents prepared and ready to take these jobs.

I continue to work with colleagues and businesses to innovate and problem solve in the areas of workforce development, recruitment, and retention. I wholeheartedly support the work of our trade unions especially in their emphasis on training and hiring Alaskans. It is well established that  excellent public schools help our workforce development issues immensely. We know that excellent schools help promote a thriving business community which in turn requires that we attract and retain excellent public servants like teachers, public safety employees, and public health personnel. 

A bill we passed that I co-authored addresses teacher retention and staffing:

• HB 230, authored by Representative Himschoot, Senator Bjorkman, and myself, removes barriers to hiring retired teachers as substitutes, rewards experience, and incentivizes teachers to improve their craft by earning the very highest Board Certified credentials. 

We need more affordable and reliable energy in Fairbanks. Our energy bills are way too high and they have been increasing. Lowering energy costs is a top priority of mine. It is tough for many families to keep their homes warm in the winter when they are already struggling to make ends meet. We need to diversify our energy sources by expanding power generation and home heating options. To help lower costs we need to expand the availability of natural gas and bring more renewables like wind, hydro, and solar online.  I will continue to fight for our working families and local businesses by pursuing  an “all of the above” solution to bring more affordable energy to Fairbanks.

I serve on the strategic House Resources Committee and I am currently the only Fairbanks area Legislator represented on the committee.  I worked hard to get on this committee so that I could promote responsible resource development. I  take representing the Interior very seriously. My main focus on the committee has been to promote responsible development for our Alaskan Oil & Gas fields as well as our mineral assets.  I will continue to work to promote the expansion of renewables. 

I supported a landmark bill we passed that  makes significant improvements to our electrical transmission system:

• HB 307 provides a major update to the state's electricity generation and transmission system. It will enable us to modernize the Railbelt energy grid and bring new renewable energy generation online. This bill was amended to exclude new power generation from state and local taxes which will reduce the cost of energy and encourage deployment of cheaper, cleaner generation sources.