Nikiski Republican Sen. Jesse Bjorkman met with a packed-full room of constituents in Moose Pass last Friday. The conversation focused on the proposed closure of the community’s school, state budgeting and the plans to widen the highway through the middle of town.
The hot and happening place in Moose Pass last Friday night was the tiny town’s community center. Young children chattered while adults pressed against the walls to fill the hall. For many, their chief question for Bjorkman was:
“When are you deciding about whether you're going to close the Moose Pass school or not?”
The decision isn’t Bjorkman’s to make. But it’s been top of mind for the community since the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District included the school on a list of nine it’s thinking about closing. The K-8 school is serving 17 students this year and, if closed, would be the latest casualty of the district’s budget crisis.
During Bjorkman’s town hall, residents were candid about what the impacts of closing the school would be. One of those residents was Marques Hall.
“My little girl is super excited to go to school, and I'm not going to torture her and put her on a bus for two hours a day to ship her down to Seward and lose all that time with her,” Hall said. “I think that's terrible for any child to have to endure.”
Several other parents also said they didn’t want their children riding the bus an hour each way to Seward – the next-closest school. Hall said if the Moose Pass School closed, he’s not sure his family would continue living in the town.
Three days after Bjorkman’s town hall, on Monday, school board members decided not to close the school, pointing to an onslaught of input from Moose Pass residents.
Also in the audience was Sandra Barron, the school’s only teacher. She asked Bjorkman for updates on legislative negotiations with Gov. Mike Dunleavy on school funding.
“He has said things that schools, public schools, are not doing a good job, so we shouldn't give them more money to continue to not do a good job, and maybe vetoing something that otherwise might have passed,” she said. “What do you think his mind is on that at this time?”
Bjorkman was candid.
“I don't pretend to know or understand the governor's way of thinking on that,” he said.
A key variable shaping debate over school funding in Juneau is the state’s own financial woes. And state lawmakers are grappling with a bigger shortfall – $536 million. Senators are considering reducing oil and gas tax credits and closing a so-called “loophole” that exempts Hilcorp from paying corporate taxes.
Bjorkman said some of his other constituents aren’t fans of those proposals.
“Folks are interested in taxing S-corporations – Hilcorp,” he said. “It's about $130 million more in revenue. Okay. A lot of your neighbors on the other side of this district work for Hilcorp. That particular tax – rather unpopular with them.”
But some, including Hall, say Bjorkman is conflating Hilcorp employees with Hilcorp executives.
“I think that people are very short-sighted and are brainwashed to think that the 0.1% executive board members of oil companies are looking out for their workers or the best interests of Alaskans,” he said.
Ryan Gaule, a multidisciplinary artist and Moose Pass School alum, called on Bjorkman to raise taxes on oil companies, which he said are greatly out of balance with things like school funding.
“It's not like the oil companies are gonna go, ‘Oh, we're just going to pack up and leave,’” he said. “They're not going to leave their billions of dollars. There's money there that we can have from them, but you have this, like, issue that we think we have to baby the oil companies and give them everything on a silver platter.”
Attendees also sought updates on the state transportation department’s plans to widen the Seward Highway where it runs through the town. After residents rallied against the project in 2022, the state delayed work. Bjorkman said the department has picked the project back up.
“(The) latest word we got from DOT that the design was 95% complete and they were going to work on completing that design sometime by this summer,” he said.
He said next steps involve department staff contacting property owners about acquiring the needed property. Bjorkman astutely gauged the room’s doubts about the department’s plans.
“I can tell you with 100% certainty that DOT has a significant credibility gap with a lot of its stakeholders,” Bjorkman said, to laughs from attendees.
Bjorkman also held town halls last weekend in Nikiski and Soldotna. But he said anyone who wasn’t able to attend should reach out to his office with input and feedback.
