EDITORIAL: Good Calls

By Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

May 12–Work on gas line legislation has dominated the headlines, but the Alaska Legislature is making progress on other less-noticed fronts. (In some cases, the right call is to do nothing.)

BRIDGES TO NOWHERE: No money in the capital budget this year for these nationally notorious projects. Even with the state’s healthy surplus, Alaska has way too many infrastructure needs that are far more urgent and immediate than two monumentally expensive, speculative bridges to open up empty land.

JUNEAU ROAD: Another good decision to take a pass on funding. Gov. Murkowski badly wanted to jump-start this 50-mile long driveway to a new ferry terminal near Skagway. Gov. Palin and the Legislature are letting it stay on the shelf, where it belongs.

SPECIAL EDUCATION AID: Lawmakers are trying to craft a new K-12 funding formula, and there’s growing recognition that the extra money districts get for each special education student doesn’t come close to covering the added cost. Anchorage, with a disproportionate share of special ed students, would really be helped if lawmakers boost this element of the funding formula.

LOCAL REVENUE SHARING: The Senate passed a $48 million local revenue sharing plan, with amounts in future years pegged to the state’s resource income and an upper cap of $50 million. It would give all communities some predictability in planning future budgets and gives smaller communities a fair share of the pie.

BOTTOM LINE: Things are finally starting to happen in Juneau, and some of the moves are actually encouraging.

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.