Dear Editor: My name is Jayson L. Miller and I go to Sitka High School, with this being my junior year.
I believe that schools should be funded from a student’s perspective. The lack of funding for education has affected schools all over Alaska, a lot of people know that, but not all know the lack of funding for education. Just to give some background for those who may not know about the lack of funding for education.
In Alaska, education, especially for small schools, is at a critical juncture especially in recent years. Despite nominally high education expenditures, systemic underfunding, flat BSA’s and rising operational costs have destabilized rural and small districts. The consequences for the lack of funding for education are scary in a sense, especially for this generation, because this generation needs funding for education.
More consequences for lack of funding are teacher shortages, constrained programs, infrastructure decay, and educational inequities, which threaten the long-term prospects of the state’s youth, particularly those in geographically isolated areas, and more. So in my opinion, I believe that schools in Alaska should be funded more, so kids, especially in rural parts of Alaska, can be able to have the same benefits for education as places in Alaska that are more populated and have bigger school systems. But even in more populated areas the lack of funding still affects school systems.
Jayson L. Miller, Sitka
