ISER releases study on kids, graduation rates

Despite the significance attributed to formal schooling and graduation in the report, if a student and/or his or her family don't see the value in the diploma, it is reasonable that the student would drop out - and that the family would support that decision. Young people in Alaska have options that are not as readily apparent in other parts of the country. In the perception of the student and the family, the student's time could be more profitably spent doing something else besides going to school. And, maybe, in the short term, it could be.

Hey Andrew, You failed to mention the obvious; our public school system is failing to educate our kids and throwing even more money at those same failing programs is not the answer. If it were we would see a direct correlation between test scores/graduation rates and per student spending around the country. The answer is choice in education that fosters competition and results in excellence. Simply put, school vouchers would do it! I'm sure the NEA wants no part of this solution because they are invested in jobs and salaries rather than kids. Their mantra will always be; give us more money!

a suprising policy given Sarah Palin is at the helm. The issue of lacking quality education in this state is a vast topic that requires a vast soulution. Yet here we are with another empty, short-sighted politically motivated stunt that does nothing to address the underlying problem. Is anyone else as deeply troubled as I am about the obvious disregard for long term, sustainable solutions our politicans have? Sarah Palin is a prime example and has demonstrated her utter lack of commitment to realistic lasting solutions time and time again. Instead we get one quick-fix, populist band-aid after another. The state is running out of oil money? No problem. Raise taxes on oil companies. Don't do anything to encourage investment and stem the production decline. We'll just have to burn that bridge when we get there. Energy costs are through the roof and people can't afford heating oil? Don't bother with fast tracking a radical, hardline conservation / renewable energy policy that will drasticly bring down energy costs over time. Hevens no! Here is a goverknment check. 1/3 of which you can forward on to the IRS. Wink wink, consider it a down payment toward Palin's 2012 GOP campaign for the senate, house or (gasp) VP! It is a good thing most of us don't possess a attention span that lasts longer than 30 minutes, otherwise people might take to the streets and demand a solution that will get us past the next trip to Wal-Mart or Costco. The state workers pension fund has an underfunded liablity of $8 - $10 billion? Don't worry about that, Palin prefers the 'roll the dice' approach and is going to spend a couple of million to sue the Wall St banksters that made bad bets on behalf of the state to recover a portion of this money. The rest can just come out of the perm fund. Of course the prudent thing would be to fund this liablity while the state is 'flush with cash', but you can't have a 14% increase to the state operating budget, $1.2 billion cash bonanza giveaway and $500 million in corporate welfare to a Canadian pipeline outfit and expect us to put away for a rainy day all at the same time. Kids aren't finishing high school and some of the ones that are happen to be too stupid to pour piss out of their boots? Just tell them to give a shout out to Palin before they drop off the radar into a lifetime of servitude at the new Chili's that opened up in Wasilla. Maybe she will invite one lucky drop out to a press conference for a high five where she can trot them out in front of the cameras for her own personal political gain, right before they end up right back at Mr. Lube changing . Certainly don't bother with promoting policy that would reduce the hours of the work week or require employers to give paid vacation as a basic benefit so people can afford to spend time with and raise their children. The only thing that you can count on these days is if and when(and it is a big if) the government does in fact function, the result is bound to be of the crowd pleasing, short-sighted and woefully ineffective variety. Palin and the politico's aren't all to blame, we vote them in. We get the government we deserve.

is the fact that so few of those who DON'T drop out and who do go on to college stay here in Alaska or return to Alaska after college. Alaska's "Brain Drain" as the result has reached critical proportions. The State and other large public employers find it almost impossible to recruit professionals. Even large private employers with more wage flexibility have to import people for skilled positions. Even lower level positions are problematic as many, most, of the young people applying simply do not have adequate skills, and especially adequate work habits, for the modern workplace. The State is the engine that drives wages and for two decades after the oil price crash of 1986, the State drove wages down against inflation. State employees lost from twenty to nearly forty percent of their purchasing power in that period. This combined with a burgeoning service and retail sector in the State has made Alaska a low wage environment outside natural resouce extraction and Davis-Bacon construction. When I went to a meeting of my peers from other unionized/industrialized states, I could be confident that I was the lowest paid person in the room. Most of the other directors of labor relations had briefcase toters that made more than I did. So, the challenge is two-fold; Alaska needs to find a way to keep its children in school and give them marketable skills AND it needs to once again become a place where they want to live and work.

"But kids in Alaska are more likely to be killed in accidents"... This one is pretty obvious to someone who hasn't lived here all their lives... I remember a few decades ago taking my first drive from Anchorage to Girdwood, barely being able to keep my eyes on the road because of the incredible views... It was in October, the leaves were turning those vibrant yellow orange colors and the wildlife was out in full swing. The images of that first drive are still imprinted on my brain like it was yesterday... I realized right then that if I ever left this place, they would have to take me kicking and screaming... I made a stop at McHugh Creek on that first trip and was shocked to see about five kids jumping from bolder to bolder with about a 75 foot drop below them... I realized, as I grabbed the rail, that this wasn't Kansas anymore...