Here in Anchorage, 43 in Palmer, and in Soldadna, and in Talkeetna, 40 in Homer, 39 in Fairbanks, 18 in Prudhoe Bay. And down there where it crashes right now, it's 89 in Lake Havasu City. Oh. So it's hot. It's hot. Joining us now is a man who we really, really appreciate his time, and he's always very generous with it, to talk about students and their achievements and where we are.
in our educational continuum in the state of Alaska, Bob Griffin. Bob, welcome. How are you? Hey, doing well, Mike. I apologize in advance for the connection here. I'm down in... Washington State enjoying some beautiful sunny weather in an area with a little bit of sketchy cell service, so I apologize in advance for that. Well, sounds pretty good. Sounds pretty good.
So, you know, there was a piece that ran today, and you had mentioned it to me that it was a piece that ran, I guess, a year ago. Ad Charter School authorizes to end the long waiting list in Alaska. And it's a piece that you wrote then, and it's still quite relevant today. And I guess you asked Suzanne to rerun it. Maybe you can just kind of recap it for us. Sure, yeah. No, it feels like Groundhog Day because the piece is exactly as relevant as it is.
It was a year ago when I wrote it when the governor was trying to add charter school authorizers as one of the reforms. And currently in Senate Bill 82, which is being debated in Senate education in Alaska right now, it's one of the reforms that... among others that the governor has asked for, but it's one of the ones that's high on my priority list. Just because when we look at...
Our outcomes, of course, we've covered that many times that we have very disappointing outcomes. And Rutgers studies show that we're, you know, the second most adequately funded school system in the United States. The public records show that, you know, in the... 20 years of 2003 to 2023, we had a 91% increase in first student spending on K-12 education, while inflation was only about 65% during that same time frame. proposal that's before the governor that's certainly going to be vetoed is
has more increases in spending, which we've tried for the last 20 years, and our test scores have gone down. And again, one of the things they're debating... is whether to add this additional charter school authorizers. And it's a big deal because we're only one of five states in the United States. Charter schools can only be authorized by local schools.
school districts, which gives them a huge, gives the school boards, the local school boards, a huge asymmetrical power over the authorized, over the schools that they're authorizing. and allows them to limit the number of students that can be admitted to programs, even though the parental interest may be very, very high.
You know, literally, the fox watching the hen house, many of the school boards are openly hostile to charter schools. They see it as an impingement on, you know, stealing their students, but if they concentrated a bit more on providing services that parents wanted, then they wouldn't have that concern quite so much. One of the things that keeps on coming up, and I just want to bat down the myth, too, of local control. There's a lot of people that have griped about, well, charter schools.
If they're not authorized by the local school district, you're giving up local control. And that's the silliest argument I've ever heard because charter schools are controlled by parents and staff. at the school level, and that's about as local as you can get. It's right down to the individual user level, so it's much more local control than a local school board.
Another thing people point out is, well, it's a big partisan issue that's only Republicans. But, you know, if you look at Washington, D.C., where 76% of the voters in Washington, D.C. are registered. about 48% of the kids in D.C. schools are in public charter schools. And I reiterate that many times, that charter schools are indeed public schools. And that has had a direct correlation to a rapid... growth and student performance in D.C. D.C. used to be the laggard of the
of the system in the United States, way behind Alaska. But this large percentage of kids being in charter schools is one of the elements that has caused Washington, D.C. to rapidly pass Alaska and a lot of our, and almost every NAEP metric, National Assessment of Education Progress metric. And the last thing I talked about in the piece is that Public charter schools rob resources from neighborhood schools. That's certainly not the case in Alaska.
We underfund our public charter schools compared to, and they're quite an economic bargain compared to what we pay for neighborhood schools. I mean, there's no question. And so now, and I've had a couple of guests on. A couple of legislators, Mike Schauer, and I've had Shelly Hughes on. We have Rob Yont, Senator Yont from the Valley on today. And we've talked about education. And we've talked about this bill.
That was passed they basically was a stripped-out bill a thousand dollars added to the BSA that's it the governor warned the legislature and said look if you do this I'm going to veto it because you're not putting any sort of metrics or accountability standards in there. And so he's going to veto it, I'm absolutely sure. So where does that put us, Bob? I mean, why would legislators, knowing that this bill, a lot of them knew this bill was...
It was a bad bill anyway. Why did they do what they did, and what's the next step? They're going to have to go back to the drawing board. Yeah, it's the standard political kabuki theater in order to drop talking points for the next election to point out that who... didn't vote for a big student increase, and that has a lot to do with public awareness of the... Mainstream media narrative for a long time has been that our schools are underfunded.
We've gone through University of Alaska studies that distort the data in amazing ways to come up with... these results that, yeah, we need more funding for K-12 education. But when you look at national studies, places like Harvard and Rutgers and places that have no interest in making Alaska look...
good or bad. Our systems are exceptionally well funded in a country that is exceptionally well funded, but we're one of the lowest performing states in a country that's one of the lowest performing countries. Yeah, the correlation to student outcomes and money is not there at all. And it's just that... Doing the same thing over and again, expecting different results, I think we've talked about there, being the definition of insanity.
Well, I guess I find it to be curious on the one hand, and I guess insulting on the other that they're putting, and I'm talking about the leadership in the House and Senate, are putting the permanent fund against kids' education. And that is a complete fool's errand. I mean, that's just not true. They don't need to do it that way. If you don't like the permanent fund, that's fine. Don't take it.
But to essentially say, if you get a permanent fund, you're hurting the kids. And I think that's a bit insulting to people. Right. Taking away a permanent fund for a 19% increase on a system that's already one of the best funded in the country seems a little bit ludicrous. You and I, we've talked about this before. I'll be just fine. It won't take any food off the table if I don't get a permanent fundiff in, but there's a lot of... single moms out there, that could be a big part of their...
annual revenues, and mostly on a philosophical level. I hate to see those resources pulled out of the private sector and into the public sector in order to prop up our already bloated state government and very inexpensive and ineffective system that we have. Well, that's kind of the way it is. I know you've been watching Juno for a long time. Are you anticipating that this education bill fiasco, that we're going to get a special session? Do you see any...
Any hope for these guys to come to their senses and get something done? Well, I always hope. I'm always a half-glass-full kind of guy and optimistic that something good will happen out of this. As Senator Schauer said on the House or Senate floor,
What are you guys doing here? You know this is not going to work. You know the government is going to veto it. We're going to go back to square one. Why are we wasting our time with this? And there is no reason to be wasting our time with this other than it is that. at Kabuki Theater in order to create talking points.
for House races and Senate races that they think they can make up the next time around. Because, again, the public awareness of this is certainly lacking because the mainstream media has really not... has not been picking up the things that Suzanne Downing and other authors have been providing. Venues like Must Read Alaska that...
They've gone along with the narrative that our poor kids are not performing well because our system is grossly underfunded and it really has nothing to do with it. It has more to do with it. where we allocate our resources rather than how many resources we're dedicating to K-12.
Well, that's why, Bob, we have you on, and that's why we try to... let people know, and really what this audience and the audience from Must Read and all those other publications need to do is they need to get with their friends and neighbors and family members and say, look, this is the real story. If you want to see our kids educated, and everybody that I know, I don't care whether you're conservative or...
or progressive, it doesn't matter. You want to see your children educated the best way possible to have the best education. So you would think with that commonality, we should be able to do something. And I don't understand where we're going. Well, there's a lot of adult agendas that trump the agenda of our kids, unfortunately, in Alaska. And that's the problem with kids don't contribute to political campaigns, isn't it?
Maybe we should just let the kids vote. I don't know. Maybe there's something to it. Well, Bob, I appreciate it very much. You enjoy your time in a sunny apartment. Actually, it's a gorgeous day today. I mean, if you were still, you know... up there in the air, you'd say, this is a nice day to fly in. But any day is a good day to fly, right? It sure is. And I've got a little bit of flying in today. I've got airplanes spread all over the place here. I've got one down here.
Somehow I knew that. Well, Bob, you take good care, and hopefully we'll be talking again soon. It's 420. We'll be right back. Back to the Mike Porcaro Show with Crash on NewsRadio 650. Looking at your laugh. Welcome back, everybody. 522-0650. You know, you look at the stuff with the education debacle that's going on. And, you know, I just really...
And maybe this is, you know, asking too much. Everybody wished that the majority in both houses down there in Juneau would just shoot straight with us. and not play games. and not think that they're smarter than you and I, you know, because it's insulting. You've got a job to do down there. Do the job.
You're supposed to be coming up with a balanced budget. You're supposed to be coming up with something that is going to provide our kids with education that's supposedly better than what we have. You guys have failed. miserably year after year after year And now you just want to throw money at something without any sort of plan, without any sort of metrics, without any sort of accountability. It's just, let's just throw money at it.
And that's it, you know. I mean, you have somebody like, you know, Representative Josephson who says, I had lots of meetings and I'm proud of my committee. Wow. There you go. That'll take it. I feel better now knowing that. And you have somebody like Pete Kopp, I'm sorry, Chuck Kopp, who is essentially saying, well, we should go to a needs-based PFD, and that'll help us.
He's not a big PFD fan. He ran on a balanced budget, that's what he says. No, he ran on cutting the PFD, but he didn't say that when he was running. So if you hear somebody say, I'm for a balanced budget, I guess maybe the dog whistle is, I want to cut your PFD. What he said in an article that he was quoted in Must Read, he says, I am...
All for a needs-based dividend, and we do need to inflation-proof the dividend. Why? We're not going to have one. Do we put a geographical differential in the dividend? I guess that means that those in rural areas would get a larger PFD than those who live in urban areas. Well, you know, for Representative Kopp, I just think maybe you've missed the point here.
That PFD belongs to all Alaskans, not just the people in rural Alaska, not the old, not the young. It belongs to all of the people in Alaska. That's who it belongs to. And the idea of a needs-based PFD is antithetical to what the PFD is supposed to be. which is your PFD, my PFD. Now, if you don't want to take it, that's your business. So if you feel that you don't need the PFD, don't take the PFD. So I guess my challenge to all of these folks is this.
All of these people that are trying to cut the PFD, did you go ahead and sign up for it? Knowing that the governor has asked for a statutory PFD. What does statutory PFD mean to you guys? What does that mean? It means that it's supposed to be legal. This is what we're supposed to get. But apparently statutory means nothing to the legislature.
We're not going to pay any attention to that. So the idea of a needs-based, it was never needs-based. If you wanted it to be needs-based, you should have put it in there in the beginning. But this idea of a needs-based dividend, so that means one Alaskan is more equal than another, I think we've fought some wars over that. I think that probably would be inherently unconstitutional. And it's also insulting.
If I don't want to take the PFD, that's my business. If you don't want to take the PFD, that's your business. This is basically a way for the legislature to kind of wash their hands of the whole situation and say, well, I didn't cut anything. I'm helping those people in rural Alaska.
Yeah, you're helping them all right. You're cutting the rug out from under them. You're pulling the rug out from under them, actually. What you're doing is you're saying, When you cut the PFD for those folks in rural Alaska or even urban Alaska, a single mom with a couple of kids, you know, maybe she needs that PFD to help put food on the table or fix her car or who knows what. You've got an elderly couple on a fixed income. That PFD might come in handy.
So, I mean, you really don't know what's going on out there. All you know is that that PFD is a number that means something to somebody, and it's an individual thing. And for you to say, well, I'm going to decide it should be needs-based. Who are you? Who are you? If you don't want the PFD, don't take it. There will be more for somebody else. And I guess I'd like to know, all of the legislators that have said they want to cut the PFD, did you sign up for it?
Just tell me. If you didn't, I'll look at you and say, you know what, at least you're honest enough to stand up on your principles. But somehow I doubt it. We'll be right back. Get on with Mike and Crash weekdays at 3 on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Police have arrested 24-year-old Fort Wainwright soldier, Adias Robertson.
Charges of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and violating conditions of a release. He's accused of shooting and killing a 37-year-old man at a Fairbanks apartment on Friday. A mistrial has been declared. The case involving a driver in a fatal crash in 2019, Dustin Ruckman.
was facing two counts of criminally negligent homicide. The truck he was driving went off a cliff, fell hundreds of feet, but two teenage girls who were also inside, 16 and 18 years old, both died. Jurors had deliberated for five days for the judge to court a mistrial. I think Alaska Housing Finance Corporation is reopening the Anchorage waiting list for housing choice vouchers. It's the first time since 2023.
So there's fewer than 200 people currently on the wait list, and new families could be contacted as early as July. What happens next? Happens here. News Radio 650 KENI. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on a Monday afternoon. Steady traffic around the Anchorage Bowl. Looks like there's a pretty good slowdown on C Street right now starting at International Airport Road. That slowdown is backing up towards Dowling.
I'm Daryl Dean. This report is sponsored by Positive Coaching Alliance. Got issues with youth? in business printing services. So whether you need custom or commercial printing, like newsletters, brochures, annual reports, PIP has you covered. Now, they specialize in high-quality signage and banners, and if you've seen them, well, you have seen them, they're all over town, ensuring that your brand gets noticed wherever you may be.
And they also have something that's really, really cool. If you've got company vehicles or trucks, well, PIP can design and apply eye-catching vehicle decals and wraps. to keep your branding consistent across your entire fleet. Not only do they print them but they also install them.
in an expert way. PIP also offers comprehensive mailing services, whether you're promoting a special offer, sending out important notices, or reaching out to donors. PIP can handle all. I'm saying all of your printing and mailing needs. delivering your postcards letters on time and on budget. PIP, they are simply the best. When you go to PIP, you get personal service because every client works with a dedicated salesperson who's there to guide you from start to finish.
So whether it's managing your budget, meeting deadlines, or ensuring that perfect print job. Your salesperson ensures everything will run smoothly, and you know what you get? Peace of mind. And that's worth a lot. 907-274-3584. 907-274-3584. That's PIP. It's where I go. They are simply the best. And there was kind of a press conference that was in, I think it was in the Oval Office today in Washington. The El Salvadoran president, Bukele,
says, Deported Maryland Man with a 5-8-4-9-0-7-2-7-4-3-5-8-4. That's PIP. It's where I go. They are simply the best. All right, 438. And there was kind of a press conference that was in, I think it was in the Oval Office today in Washington. The El Salvadoran President Bukele says deported Maryland man with alleged MS-13 ties cannot be brought back to the U.S. despite the Supreme Court ruling. He said, the question is preposterous.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele claimed Monday that he has no ability to send an alleged MS-13 member from Maryland deported to Central America. In fact, this is where the guy came from, El Salvador. Back to the U.S. despite the Supreme Court ruling directing the Trump administration to take steps to facilitate his return. That's a very interesting statement. What does that mean?
He says, I hope you're not suggesting that I smuggle terrorists into the United States, he told reporters, while sitting alongside President Trump in the Oval Office. He says, of course, I'm not going to do it. The question, said Bukele, is preposterous. I don't have the power to return him to the United States. Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
was removed last month to the notorious brutal and overcrowded terrorism confinement center along with 260 suspected gang members under the 18th century Alien Enemies Act. In court documents, the Trump administration has alleged that Abrego Garcia is confirmed to be a ranking member of MS-13. by a proven and reliable source, something that his family denies. He was illegally in this country.
And the president, during this press conference, asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to elaborate, and this is what she said. First and foremost, he was illegally in our country. He had been illegally in our country. And in 2019... Two courts, an immigration court and an appellate immigration court, ruled that he was a member of MS-13. And he was illegally in our country. Right now, it was a paperwork. It was additional paperwork that needed to be done. That's up to El Salvador.
If they want to return him, that's not up to us. The Supreme Court rule president. that if, as El Salvador wants to return him, this is international matters, foreign affairs, if they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane. Now, the only person that is constitutionally empowered to conduct foreign policy is the President of the United States. Not the Supreme Court. Not the Congress. Nobody else.
It is now an international matter. The president of El Salvador was sitting in the office today. And he was asked, he's like, I'm not going to send this guy back. He's actually a citizen of El Salvador. He's in prison. He broke American law. He's now in a maximum security prison in El Salvador, his home country. And the president of El Salvador says, he's not going anywhere. And what amazes me is...
CNN and the progressives are screaming, this guy was sent down there illegally. He wasn't sent down there illegally. He was in the country illegally. And there were a couple of different court rulings, as you heard from the Attorney General. So I just don't understand what's going on here. The president is the only person to conduct foreign policy. This is now an international situation.
have said, well, if they want to send him back, you should facilitate getting him back, meaning send a plane. Other than that, it's up to President Bukele of El Salvador. to determine if he wants to send it back. And he said, no, I'm not. That means I would be sending a terrorist to your country. Is everybody going nuts on the press corps? I have really no idea. But I thought we'd try to clear that up for you. And it's actually pretty simple. The Mike Porcaro Show with Crash.
On NewsRadio 650 KENI. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on a Monday afternoon. Steady traffic around the Anchorage Bowl. Looks like there's a pretty good slowdown on C Street right now starting at International Airport. It is 446. Let's go to Kelly. Hi, Kelly. Hey, Mike. How are you doing? I'm good. So, talking about Chuck Kopp. Yes. You know, he came from the Kenai. I live on the Kenai. So, let's go back to a little history lesson. Ron and Peggy Zobel.
You know, what was the year, year and a half soon, the state of Alaska, when at first the PFD came out, you know, A lawyer is going, you know, I'm surprised that Ledge Legal hasn't slapped Chuck upside the head. Because Ledge Legal would tell him any kind of needs base, Permanent fund is unconstitutional. And, you know, there's a building behind the state capitol full of lawyers. Chuck ought to know better.
Well, he should know better, but I think what he's doing is to essentially assuage his own position. Say, well, this is what I'm for. I'm for the little guy. Well, he's trying to divide. rural from urban yeah you know and you know Rural Alaskans against urban Alaskans. And, you know, come on, Chuck, for crying out loud. I mean, I served down there in that circus as well. And, you know. long before the POMV came along. But, you know, it's just kind of like, yeah.
You've got to come up with something a little bit better than that. Use your brain. You know, I knew Chuck as the chief of police down here. I didn't have a lot of respect for him then. I have a lot less respect for him now. Well, he came up here, and then he went to Juneau after he lost up here, and now he's back, and now he's back in the legislature. So, I mean, he seems like...
He seems like he should be a conservative, but why does he run as a Republican? Was he a conservative when he was living in Kenai? You know, I don't think he was really a conservative. I don't know if, you know. I mean, I had, you know, I never had, let's put it this way. I never was arrested or by any of Chuck's police officers or by Chuck, but I knew him.
And, you know, it was, you know, Kenai Police Force is a great police force, but, you know, I just don't have a whole bunch. This just makes me. He'll have a lot less respect for Chuck. for him saying something like this because all it does is pit rural against urban and it's going to give some attorney You know, a good fight.
I don't know if you remember Herb Shaneland, but he got fired from... what he thought about yes i remember he talked about penny and yeah yeah when ron and peggy were i i knew i knew her pretty well yeah her was a great guy Yeah, he was. He was. But, yeah, no, the Zobols essentially, essentially when the permanent fund started, it was supposed to be based on longevity. The longer you were here, the more you got. So Bones of Alaska, here is my request.
You don't have to do it, but I hope you'll do your best. Well, interesting enough, the original piece of legislation that came out of the... legislature on the permanent fund dividend, actually the funds went directly to the Department of Revenue. They bypassed the legislature in Ireland. It was a transfer, and that's what it's always been until the Supreme Court got a hold of it and said it was an appropriation. Well...
Yeah, see, you know, what happened was I think Ledge Legal actually got a hold of it, and the committees got a hold of it, and they took the portion out that it was a direct transfer to the Department of Revenue. So it took it completely out of the legislative control. They didn't like that. No, they didn't like that. Walker and his...
You know, little minions, you know, they changed it. But it's just, you know, the permanent fund, it belongs to everyone. If they don't want to pay it, you know, okay, maybe it's time to cash it out. Well, I think that's an excellent point. We had Mike Kronk on here a while back, and he had a plan. Remember, Mackey had a plan. Senator Mackey had a plan. Yeah, I mean, so if you don't want to do the permanent fund, give the public an opportunity to cash out of it.
And be done with it. Or if you don't like the permanent fund, then don't apply for it. Well, that's your choice. I mean, you know. If you want more to go to schools, donate your check to the charter school. Donate your check to the school district. I know, but I wonder how many of those people that are complaining about the permanent fund, the legislators, signed up for the dividend. I'll bet most of them did. Well, I remember a statement that was made to me, and I won't mention the guy's name.
He was in leadership when I served in the house. And we got into kind of an argument about the permanent fund dividend. And I said, you know, I made the statement to him. I said, you know, if your constituents knew what you're saying, could hear what you're saying now, they would throw you out on your ear. And his statement to me, and he'd been in the legislature a lot longer than I ever was, was my sheeple will do whatever I tell them to do.
Isn't that interesting? And, you know, there's an awful lot of mentality in the legislature that is that way. Yeah, there's a lot of entitlement. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, the unions have a tremendous amount of clout. A lot of, you know, I served when salary was $24,000. It was a citizenship legislature. Now it's a professional legislature. They're making $100,000 plus. You've got the people that used to work for you
you know, as aides, have become legislators. I mean, you know, you look at some of them that have been down there forever. I mean, look at Bryce Edgeman. He's been there for over 40 years, I believe. Oh, it's a staffer and then is elected. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, you know. You know, I only served two years, and I mean, I call it my PhD in education, or politics. You know, I wasn't supposed to go down there, didn't want to, but...
And when I saw the opportunity to get out, I did, because it was not for me. And it was one of those things that was kind of like, holy cow, adults act this way? Yes. And they're supposed to be leaders of our communities. They say things like what Chuck Kopp said. You know, we've heard... different legislators, senators say over the past years about the permanent fund and about Alaskans, and it's kind of like, wow. Total disregard to Alaskans is just mind-boggling to me. It is.
Kelly, we've got to scoot. I appreciate the phone call. Thank you. Yep, bye. All right, it is 4.55. When we come back, there's an interesting story about The Trump administration authorizing the military to take control of federal land. along the southern border. You know, and I remember when Biden said, oh, you got to go through Congress. We can't do anything about this. And Trump actually had the best line that I've heard on that. He said, you didn't need it, you know.
you know, new laws. You just needed a new president. Bingo. That's exactly right. And that is exactly right. Because look what he's done. Biden in four years let in how many millions of people? How many millions of people and gang members and people that want to hurt this country and poison citizens? turned around. And these folks are mad because it's happening. It is 4.56. We're going to take a quick break. We'll come back, so stay with us.
Hi, this is Danielle Lin. Love to have you join us each weekend for great conversations with the brightest minds on the planet with ways to navigate life for greater wealth, health, wellness, leadership, and personal development at all levels. with best-selling authors, life coaches, entrepreneurs, scientists, innovators, and nutritional experts. It's the Danielle Lynn Show, the art of living and science of life.
Sunday mornings at 5 on News Radio 650 KENI. Join us. I don't know why my son would ruin himself with alcohol. Is someone's drinking breaking your heart? You might be surprised at what you can learn in an Al-Anon family group. Al-Anon or go to al-anon.org. Hey, how's it going? Crash it once again for your personal injury attorney, Frank Schleyhoffer. We've all heard it, haven't we? Get the offer from Schleyhoffer. in Anchorage, 43 in Sildatna, 43 in Talkechna.
42 up in Palmer, 40 in Homer, Fairbanks 38. Prudhoe Bay's got a winter storm advisory and watch at 19. So it's kind of springy in some places. Joining me now is Senator Rob Yont from the Valley. And Rob, welcome. How are you? Well, I'm wonderful. I had Senator Schauer on Friday and I called into the press conference from the Republican Minority Caucus in the Senate.
This is over that education bill. And I thought you had some very interesting points. You're a numbers guy. You look at numbers and you kind of can tell the world exactly what's going on because the numbers aren't going to lie. So when you... I always say about numbers, if they're left unmanipulated, they always tell the truth. People like to make them fit their narrative, right?
Yeah, no. The numbers that I read into the record that day, I pulled directly off of the websites for our school district in the Mat-Su borough. as well as the one in Anchorage. We're still analyzing the other three big five right now, my team and I, and so should hopefully have those done in the next couple of days. You know, some of these budgets can be hundreds and hundreds of pages long.
Right. So it takes a little bit of time to find them. I'm very familiar with them. So it still takes a lot of time to find them, but they are there. They have to make them available to the public. It just doesn't mean that they have to. Easy to find. Easy to find or easy to understand. We've got a lot of man hours going into this, but we're working on it. There's definitely a false narrative.
Obviously, we see jockeying start to happen right now already for the governor's race next year, which is unfortunate. I don't like that part of politics, right? Just vote the right way and don't worry about trying to make somebody look bad or whatever. But there is a lot of that, obviously. And so a lot of jockeying going on right now and a lot of false narrative in regard to the numbers. But hopefully cooler heads will prevail here soon.
Well, tell me, Rob, what did you find when you looked at Anchorage and the Mat-Su? You read some very interesting numbers, and I think when people hear some of those, they're going to just say, I had no idea. So maybe you can kind of go over some of that. Yeah, so I always start with my district. It's only fair that I talk about my community as well. And so we right now are at fiscal year 24, actually, right? So a year ago.
And those are the most recently audited numbers. We don't have the audited numbers back for fiscal year 25 because we're still inside of it. But our district, we had $33.2 million in the operating fund. Twenty-one of that was unassigned. And then we had $12.5 million. You know, renewal and replacement funds and another $15 million more in other accounts. And so, you know, you definitely have to have reserves. You definitely got to have...
Liquidity, you can't, you know, you can't be down to the bare bones, nothing, because there's payments to be made, there's utilities to be paid, there's payroll, obviously, is the largest amount. I don't think those numbers are too out of control, to be quite honest with you. Those may be total up to, I guess that'd be 30, 40. About 60. But Anchorage... Oh, yeah. $194 million in their general operating fund. 58 of that was unassigned. $68 million in their CIP account, which...
CIP account for them is exactly like our renewal and replacement. It's for repairs and those type of things, right? And then about $15.5 in their other accounts. So you take those and add them up together, and you're talking. 280, give or take, 275, right? Wow. They got twice as many kids as us, you know, and they got more structures than we do, and so, you know. That's still over four times the amount of money that we've got.
You know, I'm not picking on those two specifically, trust me. I'll get through the books on the other three as well. And when I talk about the two and the three, for people out there listening, in case they don't know, I'm referring to the big five. which means the five largest school districts in the state. And so... Last year, we gave 680 in one-time money at the end of the year, outside of the BSA. That represents probably 11% or 12%. So that's quite a bit more.
And that's not accounted for right there because that's going to be in this year's coming up audited. revenue. So do we need to get an education package done? Of course we do. Absolutely we do. We need to stop fighting about this every year. It's been happening for a long time. We need to get some good policy in there so that our students you know, are set up with an environment where they can succeed. It is the most important thing we do as adults.
it set the next generation up for success. So policy is important to me and my caucus. We've got to get some good policy in there to support this so that we can make sure that these kids are leaving fully prepared to succeed in life. But I think cooler heads will prevail. I think we'll get it done. So we'll see. So does Anchorage have more money than they're letting on? I mean, when you look at this, you think to yourself, now they're telling us there's a $111 million shortfall.
But they do have money, and they have more money proportionally in their... accounts, then I think you're looking at a 10% account to have as a cushion. They've got a big cushion. I do this for a living. This is what I do for a living, right? It is very easy to build a budget.
a preliminary budget and then say, look, I have this massive shortfall. And I'm not just talking about a school district. I'm talking about any business in the world. Doesn't matter, right? For-profit, non-profit, governmental, doesn't matter. You build your budget, and you say, look, I have this match. It's a shortfall, right? And so...
That may be true, but I would say if you look back, you know, and you're a pretty consistent-sized business like these school districts are, you look back three to five years and you get an average of what you actually spent.
Take a look at what you actually spent. You're going to have employees that don't opt into the health insurance because their spouse may have it. You're going to have positions you don't fill. I could go on and on. There's going to be things that you thought you might spend money on that you don't. And if you want to be truthful with
your voters and your residents, then you try to build a budget based on the last 36 to 60 months trailing average. You know, take COVID and kick it out. I'm fine with that. Kick COVID out completely, right? Don't use that if you don't want, right? But you can put together a more honest budget up front, and I do think there's a lack of transparency on what's happening with our budget. So it's easy to say, well, we have this massive shortage.
So I guess the question is, is it in the eye of the beholder, Rob, or is there a shortfall? I don't think there's a shortfall. Not with how much one-time money we did last year. There's definitely not today. Now, COVID money, helicopter money from the federal government, which we're all paying for with inflation, by the way, that's dried up. And so, you know, you might run a small deficit here for a couple years, but we're sitting on the reserves. We can make it happen now.
You know, we did the 680 in one time money last year, remember? I mean, they burned a good friend of mine to the ground for voting for the 680. But I find it quite ironic now that many members that voted against 680 last year are saying that they would support it this year. You know who I'm talking about. I'm not going to name them.
I think the number's probably going to fall in that 680 range somewhere, which is exactly what we gave in one-time money last year. It might come in slightly higher or lower, but for me, it's policy. What are we going to do to set these kids up for a bright future? How are we going to make sure that they can read correctly and do all the other things they need to do when they leave? That's the most important thing, in my opinion.
Well, and I guess that's exactly what we should be doing, and it's exactly what the leadership... and the House and Senate isn't doing, when they go ahead and put together a bill that just basically throws some money at a problem where they think
that's going to fix it, and it's not, and you're going to have to go all the way back to square one. So I guess what I'm asking is do you think that there's going to be agreement Senator, that's going to get you guys out on time or are you going to be fighting this thing into the summer? Oh, we better get out of here on time. You know, like, I mean, come on. We've got seven days in a week and 168 hours in a week for a reason.
Let's get it done. Let's go to work, right? So I will say in defense of members in all four caucuses, even both majorities, There are members in all four caucuses who worked very, very hard to come up with very good policy. Honestly, good policy. And none of them were happy when the policy got stripped out of it, right? And I don't think any package passes without it. And so, you know, the package that we just voted on on Friday was simply just money.
and no policy, that's not going to fly. Nobody's going to vote for that in the long run. It passed, but there's nowhere near enough votes to overwrite a veto. That bill is dead on arrival, as it should be. And there's members who voted for it. I think just because they wanted to make the governor veto it. even though they were upset with policy.
And I'll say it again. I said it earlier, but the most important thing we do as adults is set our kids up for a bright future, right? Yeah. I think you'll see the cell phone band come back, and that's a good thing. I still got three adult children, but I still got three kids. in the hallways as well here in local K-12. And my kids aren't packing cell phones around, but a lot of them are. I'm in the halls every day when I'm home coaching.
They're a major distraction to our children. They are keeping them from learning. And our parents could get a hold of us. It was called Call the Front Desk. and tell Mike or Rob to come down to the front desk and talk to their parents. Your kids don't need a cell phone that's distracting them. My kids don't need it either, like I said. And so there's some other good policy stuff in there that will make a big difference.
And, again, I just want to stick up for everybody that worked really hard on that. There are members in both majorities and both minorities who worked darn hard to get good policy in there, and it was disappointing to see it all stripped out. But I have. full confidence that a lot of it, if not all of it, will be back in there in the final package.
Well, let's hope so. Let me just ask one final question, Senator, about the PFD. We're hearing a lot about that, and people are putting it up against, if you get a PFD, you're going to hurt education, and I've got to scratch my head and say, wait a minute. So where is that going? Are we going to get a PFD this year? What have you heard? Yeah, it's not going to be nearly as much as I'd like to see. But, you know, for us to really take control of that situation again, I mean, that...
That program was born in the time when we pumped 2 million barrels a day, and now we're at less than a quarter of that, right? The good news is we see a lot of positive momentum in... putting more oil in the pipeline over the course of the next five to ten years, right? Santos and ConocoPhillips are both working very hard to do just that, amongst a few others. I think we definitely have greener days on the way. We're going to have to reduce spending. I've got, I think, the only bill.
Right now, down here, that would reduce... As far as I know, it's the only one, and it would reorganize one of our departments and save us about $50 million, $60 million a year. It doesn't sound like a lot, but every little bit adds up. You know, divide that by 743,000 residents, and it starts to add up, right, especially to a family of four. So that's how we're going to solve the problem. We've got to do some.
Revenue, I mean some expenditure reductions, spend a little bit less in certain areas, tighten up our belts in any areas that we can, and then we're going to have to increase revenue as well. And there's multiple ways to do that. I will never support a revenue increase that's a tax on our citizens.
We're one of only two states in the country without an income tax or sales tax, so I'm very grateful for that. We live in a great place and want to keep it that way, but there are other ways for us to do it. We're a natural resource state. We need to produce our natural resources. you know, let the world pay for them so that our residents can prosper. And we've got to get back to that. There's not enough of that going on right now.
Well, hopefully, you know, we get a gas line moving, get more oil in the pipeline. The president has... lined out that he wants to see Alaska just go full bore. And with that kind of support, I think that sends a very good message to industry. Yeah, yeah, I agree. We're very, I feel like, we're very fortunate in Alaska to have who we have as our Commander-in-Chief right now. I can't think of in my entire lifetime.
All the presidents together combined talking about Alaska and our potential as much as, you know, Donald Trump is talking about us, you know, right now. He's given Alaska more airway. That sends a very good message to industry. Yeah, yeah, I agree. We're very, I feel like, we're very fortunate in Alaska to have who we have as our Commander-in-Chief right now. I can't think of in my entire lifetime.
All the presidents together combined talking about Alaska and our potential as much as, you know, Donald Trump is talking about us, you know, right now. He's given Alaska more airway. since he was sworn into office in the last, you know, like I said, three months or whatever it's been, that I can remember all the presidents of my entire lifetime.
I think there's a lot of potential there. I'm grateful he's in there, and he's definitely going to help us put Alaska back to work, which is what we all want for our kids and grandkids. Absolutely. Rob, it is always good to talk to you. I'm sure it's just fun every single day. I know you're having fun out there. You know me. I've competed at high levels in different areas of life. I don't take any of this personally.
You know, people get upset or whatever. To me, it's just work. You know, get up, it's a new day, start again, right? Last Friday was nothing. You're focused. You're focused on what you've got to do, and that's a great quality to have. Don't be distracted. Yeah, I agree.
Well, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to visit, and I'll report back here maybe in the next few days or week when I get through some more of these budgets. There's definitely a lot of man hours to go through them when we're not in committee and different things. I'm on four committees, too, so we're staying pretty busy. I've got a good team with me, Ryan.
Tyler and Tyler are doing a great job. I'm grateful to have them here helping me. Well, we appreciate all your hard work, and you take good care, Rob. We'll talk to you soon. Take care. All right. Thanks. Senator Rob Yonk from the Valley. We'll be right back. The Mike Porcaro Show with Crash. Weekdays at 3 on NewsRadio 650 KENI.
Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday evening. Steady traffic now around the Anchorage Bowl. Bit of a slowdown on the outbound lanes of Glen Highway at Fitz Avenue and Airport Heights. Traffic is backing up just a touch. Otherwise, traffic's looking pretty good around the Anchorage Bowl. Be careful, it is sunny out there. Make sure you got your sunglasses. From the Strickard Chevrolet Anchorage Traffic Studios.
I'm Daryl Dean. as they do. 43 here, 42 in Palmer, 43 in Soldatna, 43 in Takeda, 40 in Homer, it's 38 in Fairbanks and some snow. Prudhoe Bay is 19 with a winter storm advisory in Blanche. Seattle, 61. New York, 54. Akaroa, New Zealand, 51. Pensacola, Florida, 69. Tampa, Florida, 72. Tifton, Georgia, 71. And Lake Havasu City, down where it crashes, basking. at least for the next day or so. It's 88 degrees. All right, we're going to take a break. We're going to come back, so stick around.
The Alaska House of Representatives is going to cut the proposed 2025 Permanent Fund dividend by nearly two-thirds. The Beacon says lawmakers have voted to reduce the dividend from $3,900 to $1,400 per recipient. If approved, it would cut the budget deficit from $1.9 billion to less than $400 million the upcoming fiscal year. Juno's cruise season is underway, with the Norwegian Bliss becoming the first to visit.
of the capital city. Welcome to 1.7 million passengers last year with this year expected to be similar. And friends and family of the victims from Texas, presumed dead after their boat capsized near Homer last summer, are continuing their search with a fundraiser over the weekend. Alaska's news source says the fundraiser took place to help pay for a new search.
for members of the Maynard family after their boat capsized 14 miles off the coast of Homer on August 3rd. Four people rescued and four presumed dead. That's the latest. I'm Jack Cronin. make the outside of your home beautiful and better. Well, then let me just tell you about ABC Seamless because they deal with seamless steel siding for homeowners. here in Anchorage and of course in the valley and around the vicinity of the Anchorage and the valley area. So, look, have you ever thought about
What's the outside of my home look like? You know, you could paint it, certainly. You could put different kinds of siding on it if you want. But if you want to essentially be done... Set it and forget it. When you do it once, you can do it for life and you can do it with steel. And we're suggesting that you get a hold of these guys over at ABC Seamless because they will put together a top-notch...
steel siding package for you. Now, they create it right on site. They fabricate it on site so that it's going to fit your home perfectly. They use a heavy gauge hot diff G90 galvanized steel. which is tougher and more robust than wood or vinyl. And it's easy to keep clean. It's basically a little bit of maintenance, if any. The colors bake right in. It comes in a ton of different colors.
It resists warping and fading and cracking, and it's never going to be needed to be scraped or repainted. It's got long-lasting performance, and this is just a great product. And so I want you to think about that. And I also want you to think about the fact that, you know, maybe your home needs gutters. And we called them and they came out and installed steel gutters on our home. They're handsome. They're beautiful.
And they also put on something called the gutter helmet. Now, the gutter helmet is really cool because you can put gutters on your home, okay? But guess what? In the fall... Or in the spring whatever you're going to have to go up there and you're going to have to clean them out. Well, you don't have to with a gutter helmet because the gutter helmet fits right on top of the gutter and lets one thing go through, and that's water. That's it.
You can check gutter cleaning off your list forever. And don't forget about soffits and fascia either, because when you choose ABC Seamless... You can upgrade your fascia and soffit to match the new siding and the soffit of course provides ventilation. preventing moisture and mold, while the fascia ensures a polished finish and a very clean look while covering up some unsightly roof lines. Together, both products protect your home and prolong the life.
of your steel siding investment so why not give them a call I've got to tell you, when you call them, you're going to talk to some really great people, people that really are good at what they do. These are experts. You can tell them Mike and Crash sent you, by the way. 907-646-2228. That's 907-646-2228. ABC Seamless. They've done a great job for me, and I recommend them absolutely, unequivocally call them up. All right, it's 537. The Trump administration is doing something that...
Teddy Roosevelt thought about years ago. President Trump has issued a memorandum. He issued one on Friday. authorizing the military to take control of federal lands along the southern border to combat illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Now, this is in direct contradiction to what Biden did, which said, no, we can't have any troops down there. We can't do anything to protect our border because we want these people then, apparently.
That's the only reason why I can think that they're doing this, or that Biden did what he did. Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats. The complexity of the current situation requires that our military... Biden had the chance to do this. He didn't. Take a more direct role in securing our southern border. Again, the president protecting the country.
Trump directed his cabinet members to take all appropriate actions to provide for the use and jurisdiction by the Department of Defense.
over federal lands that are reasonably necessary to enable military activities directed in this memorandum. The President listed border barrier construction and emplacement of detection and monitoring equipment as the activities that the military will engage in along the US-Mexico border, but later noted that Secretary Hegseth may determine those military activities that are reasonably necessary and appropriate to accomplish the mission assigned.
The mission is to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States, as detailed in Trump's day one executive order, Border Security. Does this make sense to people? Of course it does. Trump's memo allows the military to operate on something called the Roosevelt Registration. And reservation rather. Now what is it? It's a 60 foot wide strip of land along the southern border. Now this strip of land extends from California to Texas.
That's a pretty big strip of land. But it excludes federal Native American reservations. So in carrying out activities under this memorandum, members of the armed forces will follow rules for the use of force prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. Sounds like somebody's getting really serious about this.
Trump further directed Secretary Hexler to take all steps necessary to protect and maintain the areas where troops will be present as if they were military installations, including by restricting access to those areas. Under the phased implementation and land takeover, the Trump administration will initially implement this memorandum on a limited sector of federal lands designated by the Secretary of Defense.
Within 45 days of the date of the memorandum, the Secretary of Defense shall assess this initial phase. The Secretary of Defense may extend activities under this memorandum. to additional federal lands along the southern border in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor, and other executive departments and agencies as appropriate.
So you've got the Roosevelt Reservation, which is a 60-foot strip of land that runs right along the border from California to Texas. That's where we're going to start putting our assets. And again, it's something we should have been doing years ago. to stop the invasion of migrants. If somebody wants to come to America, there's a process for it.
And we welcome people from all over the world, but you've got to go through the legal channels to get into the country. If you don't, and we can't control... the influx of people wanting to come in here, we have chaos and we no longer have a country. You've got to have a secure border. Secure border doesn't mean you don't let anybody in. It means you let people in that you know are coming in, that are illegal. All right, we'll be right back. Stay with us.
The Mike Porcaro Show with Crash on News Radio 650 KENI. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday evening. 546. You know, Bill Maher, you've heard of Bill Maher, haven't you, Daryl? Oh, absolutely. And kind of a guy who's a left-wing guy. Well, he had lunch, or dinner, I guess, with President Trump, and he decided that he liked him. which I find to be interesting. And what he said was, the guy that you see on television isn't the guy who he met.
He was expecting that he would be the same guy. In fact, Marr had a list of insults that Trump had for him. that Trump used on him, and Trump actually signed him. So I find that interesting. What I find interesting is that Bill Maher met the same guy I did. When I had Trump on the show, and he called on the phone and we set it all up and everything, and the guy that I had talked to before we went and did the tape was intelligent.
Just a really nice guy to talk to. And I'm delighted to know that Bill Maher had the same experience that I did. You know, you tell people that and they look at you and they go, well, are you kidding me? And I said, no, President Trump. was very, very caring about Alaska, knew a great deal about the state, is very intelligent, and very charming, and funny. And I enjoyed the conversation with him immensely.
And it's interesting that Bill Maher had the same reaction, and Bill Maher and I have way different political views, certainly, but he had the same reaction that I did. Which is, he's a pretty decent guy. He's a nice guy. When I heard him over the weekend talking about that, I thought, wow, that's really neat that he had the same experience that I did. And I feel lucky that I had the opportunity to talk to the President one on one and have that kind of experience.
With Bill Maher, so he's, like you said, he is a liberal. And but over the last year and a half, I've been agreeing with him more and more because he's been looking and going, wow, the Democrats are being stupid. Wow. Don't do that. That's wrong, you guys.
And they're not listening to him. They actually are coming down on him. The ladies on the view have come down on him because he's, you know, said some things that were nice about Trump. And now after he put out, I've got a clip from his show that he does on Friday night.
um spiel about about the dinner with with trump and how i said went into everything on how you know this was awesome this was great this was different again about the you know all the insults and stuff and they uh they they were able to disagree on things but doing it cordially. And what's funny now is... So Bill Barr, over the whole weekend, has been saying, hey, you know, actually, pretty nice guy in person. I'm impressed.
Several pundits on the left are like, oh my gosh, you can't say that, you can't say that. And then there's a few on the right, like Geraldo, in case you remember that gentleman there who unlocked the safe with nothing in it. He's not on the right, really. But he plays like he is. We know he's not. But he came down on Bill Maher because three years ago, Geraldo went to lunch with Trump and came out of lunch going, wow.
That's not the guy I was expecting. He's actually pretty nice. And everybody jumped on Geraldo, including Bill Maher, about it three years ago. And now Maher's saying the same thing, and Geraldo's like, hey, hey. You guys, wait a second. Well, you know, all I can do is tell you my experience. And it sounds like my experience was... Pretty similar to his. He went to dinner at the White House. I didn't. I had a phone call, but that's okay. But, I mean, in that time, you got a real opportunity.
to kind of get a feel for who this guy was. And I liked him. I just liked him. And I'm glad that Bill Maher said something that I thought was very interesting. He said, the crazy guy doesn't live in the White House. Exactly. That's what he said. And I guess that's a compliment. Well, and it kind of also debunks all the Nazi, Nazi, Nazi talk that's going on. Yeah, he's not. He's not that way. No, he's not, you know. That would have been an interesting dinner, though. Kid Rock.
Bill Maher, Donald Trump, and Dana from UFC fighting, the head of the UFC fighting. That would have been an interesting one. And basically those two, Kid Rock and Dana, both just kind of kicked back and let Trump and Maher talk. Yeah, I mean, why not? And Trump apparently took a lot of stuff in very good humor, which I would expect. People don't realize that he has a sense of humor, and it's a very good one, but his sense of humor is New York humor. Having grown up there...
I immediately know who the guy is. I mean, you know, we used to see people like this in the school yard all the time. And New Yorkers have their own manner of how they deal with humans. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not. Trust me, my jokes usually fall pretty flat for New Yorkers just because they're puns and stuff, and they look up and, well, you know, you could say my joke's grown up in New York also.
We're kind of grown, though. Yes, grown. Yes. Spelled differently. Yes, exactly. All right, it's $5.52. Robert is on the line here? Oh, no, that was earlier. We had that the other day. We have no Robert today. Oh, okay. I'm looking at this. Oh, the thing you sent me. Yeah, I sent you that for later after you get off work today if you hadn't seen it. It really is because he goes through completely all of his whole conversation. Jeez, that's kind of what I said. Big time, yes. Yeah.
So me and Bill Maher are actually agreeing again. Wow. It's scary. And also, who else was saying stuff? Shorts. The senator who wears shorts all the time. Oh, Fetterman. Fetterman. Fetterman is the other one that is like, what is it? I don't understand, man. I'm agreeing with these guys way too much. At least I don't agree with AOC. That one I still have. She's completely left field. Well, I think she is intellectually dishonest.
Or she gets so steeped in Marxism that she can't possibly see the forest for the trees. I think it's that second one. You know. And the same thing with Bernie. Bernie Sanders has been telling everybody that the oligarchs have been running the country since probably he was a kid. I mean, it's like, Bernie, try something else. It's not working.
And Bernie is a guy that I find that really funny. He wants to be a man of the people. This guy went to Russia, the Soviet Union, on his honeymoon. Who does that? You know, let's go to the Soviet Union and celebrate our honeymoon, for gosh sakes. Well, Bernie Sanders likes to talk about the rich and how bad the rich are, how evil they are. How much money do you need? How much do you need? You don't need all that money. What are you doing?
What Bernie isn't telling everybody is he's got multiple homes. Bernie's done pretty well for himself. Yeah, that man's well off. Bernie's not broke, just to let you know. He's not eating out of the vending machines. He's doing okay. So I just find the hypocrisy is just amazing. And hypocrisy in government?
When did that start, right? Right about the same time as the Hippocratic Oath. Oh, wait, no, that's the hypocrisy oath. Never mind, it's really different. Well, real quick, the Trump administration's joint task force to combat anti-Semitism. announced freezing over $2 billion in multi-year grants and contracts to have it after the school's president released a statement saying the school would not comply with the administration's demands regarding anti-Semitism.
Does that mean that Harvard likes to be an anti-Semite? I mean, I don't understand. Harvard's statement today reinforces a troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges. That federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws. The disruption of learning that has played campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is... yes absolutely I don't understand what the heck
All right, time for us to call it a night. It's a beautiful afternoon out there, so go enjoy it. And we'll see everybody here tomorrow at 4 o'clock. Just now, another kid dropped out of school. There's one every 20 seconds. Over 200 kids an hour. That adds up to nearly 5,000 kids every school day. 3.5 million kids won't receive a diploma over the next four years. But there is someone who can change that.
United Way knows that kids who have a caring adult in their life are more likely to make it so make a pledge tutor a child who needs help mentor a kid who needs someone on their side volunteer to read to children Because the path to success or failure starts long before graduation day. And the difference between a graduate and a dropout could be you. Take the pledge to volunteer now at unitedway.org. Brought to you by United Way and the Ad Council.
Here at the GED Pep Talk Center, we've got a range of pep talkers standing by. Call 1-877-38-YOUR-GED or visit yourged.org and find free classes in your area. GED is a registered trademark of the American Council on Education. Brought to you by Dollar General Literacy Foundation and the Ad Council. He's back and he's got even more to say. Only on News Radio 650 KENI. Are you a business owner?