By Mayor Kristin Smith
To the editor,
In response to the Facebook chatter following the city’s increase in the mill rate, I’m writing to ask that Cordova residents take a real look at the trend that led us here: A complete shift in focus at the federal and state level that leaves local governments to make up the gap in funding.
Over the past four months, we just watched our governor abdicate the state’s support of our public school teachers, students and buildings. While state funding over the past 10 years has surged for correspondence learning and charter schools, re-directing hundreds of millions from our public schools, inflation has increased the cost of education by 39% but teacher compensation has increased by only 10% (ISER 2024). Alaska’s constitution obligates state legislators to “establish and maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the state.” Our legislators did their job: They approved a funding increase that would have covered half of what’s needed to bring state spending up to inflation-level spending, and the governor vetoed that proposal.
Since 1980, the appeal of the idea of cutting taxes to spur growth and lead to “trickle down” benefits has led us to where we are today: Growing federal debt, and a shift in wealth away from the lower and middle classes to the wealthiest in our country.
In his 1985 book “The Triumph of Politics,” David Stockman, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s director of the office of management and budget, wrote about how Reagan’s tax cuts did not work. Stockman writes: “The main fiscal legacy of the Reagan era is that the federal debt was raised from $1 trillion to $3 trillion.” I say this not to point out that I read a nerdy book, but to emphasize the time span: For almost half a century, advocates of “supply side” tax policy have not been able to produce examples of that approach leading to actual economic growth.
The only thing trickling down to the local government level right now is the burden on communities to make up the gap. At the federal level, a growing share of our taxes are now going to fund significant increases in defense spending and an increase in federal debt.
How does that help pay for our schools?
If you want to see your national-level taxes put to work here, in our town, and used to help pay for harbors, bridges and roads, for weather buoys, for education, for health care, for housing – please consider voting for candidates who support those choices.
Kristin Smith is the mayor of Cordova.
