TRAVELS AND TRAVAILS
Some of
you may be wondering why this is the first LCS of the week. The
short answer is after leaving Anchorage Monday morning I finally
arrived in Juneau last night. I did get to see Sitka on Monday
and Wrangell (at least the airport) yesterday. Now we can
honestly tell Sen. Stedman and Rep. Wilson that we have been
visiting their districts. Special thanks to Marie at the Sitka
LIO for all the office time, and to Sitka Education Association
member Rick Rohlman for the late afternoon tour and ride back to
the airport from the LIO. Their efforts made for a productive
day.
SENATE SPECIAL
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
The SSCE
met this morning and heard a great presentation from Eddy Jeans
(Director, Division of School Finance) on the foundation
formula. If any of you can get to a TV tomorrow there is a
chance Mr. Jeans will be on Gavel to Gavel as he presents to the
House HESS committee at 3:00 pm (see calendar). Eddy has been
with the Department of Education for over 20 years and the
professionalism of his presentation shows his vast experience.
Please watch if possible.
SENATE FINANCE
Senate
Finance met today and heard from Governor Palin’s director of
Management and Budget (Karen Rehfeld) and from Legislative
Finance (Director David Teal). You will remember Ms. Rehfeld as
the Deputy Commissioner of DEED. Mr. Teal has a long history
with Leg. Finance. Both do a great job and are part of the
institutional budget memory in Juneau.
The
next LCS will be published on February 6th. We have NEA-Alaska
Delegate Assembly this weekend and the trip back to Juneau could
be another wild one, so look for the next LCS on 2/06/07. Keep
up the advocacy for K-12 education.
Bill Bjork, NEA-Alaska
President
Lydia Garcia, Interim Executive Director
John Alcantra, Government Relations
