Dear Editor: A reminder that the deadline for speaking out on cuts to local education funding proposed by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development – up to $4 million in Sitka – is tomorrow, July 25.
Should concerned citizens still submit letters to DEED even though the state has appealed the results of a failed “disparity” test that triggered the proposed cuts? Yes. The DEED plan to drastically hamper Sitka’s ability to fund our own schools remains on the table.
Sitka schools cannot – and should not have to – endure yet more funding cuts, especially from Alaska’s own Department of Education which is tasked with ensuring young people in our state receive the high-quality schooling guaranteed by the Alaska Constitution. To impose such cuts is not only antithetical to DEED’s mission of providing “an excellent education for every student every day” but a harmful dereliction of duty.
Concerned Sitkans should email DEED at eed.stateboard.alaska.gov by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 25.
Beth Short-Rhoads, Sitka
