What's the most important thing for Education to succed in Alaska?

[Scott Henry]

Money, is the answer.  Regardless of the is size of a school, if it's public or private, money drives everything in education, not just in Alaska but throughout our country.  In the eight year's I've been working in schools, I'm amazed, perplexed, disappointed and many other adjectives when I think about how much school funding has changed during that time.  Every week in the local news there are stories about funding being increased, decreased or projected cuts and recently projected surpluses.  It's very interesting/confusing to me that an a state with the resources and relatively steady economy, so little regard is given to funding schools.  Ultimately the education provided to students is what is impacted the most, which will have long term impacts that we can't measure at this point.  How do you do a chemistry lab with 35-40 kids in each class?  The only clear answer I can think of is to fully fund schools regardless of location or size.  Getting our elected officials to understand the need to fund schools is an important role each person can play.