Courtesy of Alaska Public Media:
That there are new ideas for changing how the state pays for education isn’t a surprise. That this cost-saving proposal could close 60 schools across the state is.
“Certainly there has been talk that 10 students is, quite frankly — with the technology that we have today and the options that are available — it’s just too expensive,” Rep. Lynn Gattis said.
Gattis is a Republican from Wasilla and chairs the House Education Committee. She’s one of the lawmakers considering introducing legislation to change a number of things about how schools in Alaska are funded. One of her ideas is to increase the minimum threshold for schools to receive full funding. She’s considering proposing 25 students as the minimum, but she’s open to a number higher or lower than that.
“If I was in charge, I would open up those options whether it be virtual schools — I went to school when it was correspondence back in the day and we have come a long way,” Gattis said.
So Gattis was educated through a correspondence school, well that answers a lot of questions.
And of course, of course, she is representing Wasilla.
Where else?
We have already closed a number of rural schools due to the fact that they did not have the minimum number of students available to keep them open, increasing the number to 25 would see many more close as well. That should be the opposite of what we are trying to do for our children.
As for online courses, well besides the fact that the students would not have personal interactions with an actual teacher, the largest internet provider up here, GCI, only covers this much area.
That's pretty good considering how bad things were in the past, but that is still a lot of communities left in the dark.
No this Gattis person is an idiot, and I would assume that nobody is paying any real attention to her concerning this issue.
After all she's from Wasilla!
Any ideas on improving education opportunities that come from Wasilla should be dismissed out of hand.
Alaska lawmaker wants to do away with some rural schools and use online courses instead. Wanna guess where she's from?
5:14 AM
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