The opinions expressed on this show are those of the host and not of iHeartMedia or its employees. Thank you for listening to NewsRadio 650 KENI. Demboski, the show starts now. Our lines are open at 907-522-0650. This is The Morning Drive on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Good morning. It is Thursday, February 20th. Current time, if I stall just a little bit, is 6.06.
By the time the delay hits, it'll be truly 600. Now you've got him on that, definitely. Yeah, yeah, I got him. I have to laugh, Daryl, because I just, my goodness. I will tell you, this week has gone by really fast. It helps that we had Monday off. It helps that we had Monday off, but I will tell you, it feels like a balmy spring day out there. Oh, well, see, now, I don't know. Yesterday said it was balmy. I guess I'll have degree because I walked out again, and it was warm on my face, so.
Well, I just looked down at my weather app here, my weather station that we have at the house. Why? What did it do? It moved. It changed. Oh, you said you looked down at it. I looked down at it. I did look down, but no, not like that. See, a little too early, haven't had coffee yet, but 31.4 degrees right now in Palmer. Oh, wow. I'm like barely cracking 28 degrees in here right now.
Oh, man. Well, see, okay, I will tell you, you know, Kenai is the balmiest at 35. Big Lake's checking in at 32. Fairbanks has warmed up to 10. I'm telling you, heat wave. Heat wave, heat wave. So I keep saying spring is here, and we had this whole discussion at work yesterday, whether it's like, you know, a fake spring or whether it's really here. This has been a false winter the whole winter, so.
Well, this will have been the weirdest winter ever. But, you know, I will say I'm very optimistic. Amy's optimism is coming out. Like, it's happening. We just all have to settle in and accept. That spring is basically here. Which, you know, spring is basically here. It means you have to already start thinking about gardening. And your flower baskets. So, I'm upset now. I just double-checked my temperature. Didn't go down. Yeah. I'm now at 26 degrees. Oh, you're going...
What can I say, Daryl? As I go up, you go down. We're on a seesaw. Okay. For those of you kids out there who don't know what it is, board goes up and down. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, let's get into some of our community announcements before we jump into the show. Just an FYI, I will be off tomorrow. Bernadette Wilson. will be in. It will be a special treat for you. She is fantastic. I mean, I gotta be honest with you. Bernadette is sensational. She's the reason I even thought, you know, I...
I could do this because I listen to her and I just absolutely adore. She is spicy. She's informative. She's in the know. So you don't want to miss tomorrow's show. She will be sitting in studio with Daryl. And tomorrow will be a great show. But before I get to my community announcements, I want to make sure that everybody knows where you can listen. You can always listen to us every weekday morning from 6 to 8 a.m. right here on 6.50 a.m.
also listen to us online if you want to stream us. All you have to do is go to the website 650keni.iheart.com or you can download the iHeart Media app. There's lots of ways you can listen. If you want to listen to the podcast, maybe you heard that we had a great show yesterday, which we did, of course. It was sensational. Senator Rob Young called in. We talked about things that are going on in Juneau.
You can go to either the podcast or the website. Either way, you can find us, whether it's the iHeartMedia app, Spotify, the Amazon app. There's lots of places you can find the podcast, but great ways to listen. All right, let's get into our public announcements. for today starting with Amatsu Borough. Tonight at 6.30 the Trapper Creek Community Council has a meeting and that will be at the Trapper Creek Community Center.
7 o'clock, the South Kinnick River Community Council has their meeting. They meet at the South Kinnick River Community Building, which is located at 17958 East Kinnick River Road. And last but not least, we have a West Lakes Fire Department, or West Lakes Road Service Area Advisory Board meeting. They meet at the West Lakes Fire Department Station 7-3. That's right there on the Parks Highway. you
And for today, the planning board meeting that was scheduled for this afternoon has been canceled. So if you were planning on attending that, that one has been canceled. If you need more information on what's going on in the MATSU borough, just go to matzugov.us, and you'll find it there. As far as the city of Wasilla goes for today, the Airport Advisory Commission meeting that was scheduled for today has been canceled. So the city of Wasilla does not have any meetings that I see.
For the City of Palmer, the only thing I see on their calendar is a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting tonight at 6 p.m. That, of course, will be at the City Council Chambers, 231 West Evergreen Avenue in Palmer. If you'd like more information on that, all you have to do is go to palmerak.org. Just look at the calendar, and you'll be able to find it from there.
As far as the municipality of Anchorage goes, we have a quarter four 2024 pre-funding investment board meeting. That will be at 10 a.m. today, City Hall, Conference Room 330, so that's on the third floor. Then we have an ACDA Development Committee meeting. That's the Anchorage Community Development Authority. They have a meeting at 1 p.m. This is a virtual meeting only. So if you want to attend, you'll need to get the link. Just go to muni.org.
Then click on the Mayor's tab, then the Events tab, and you'll find it there. Also, today there's an AMATS Policy Committee meeting. That will be at 1 p.m. in the Mayor's Conference Room at City Hall. So that's on the eighth floor. The Board of Ethics meeting for today has been canceled for the municipality of Anchorage, but there is a building board meeting tonight.
at 530 in the main conference room of the planning and development center located at 4700 elmore road and last but not least for the municipality of anchorage there is a historic preservation committee meeting commission meeting tonight It's going to be in person and virtual. So if you want to attend in person, just go to the Planning and Development Center, which is 4700 Elmore, Conference Room 170.
And if you want the link, again, go to Muni's website, muni.org, click on the Mayor's tab, then click on the Events tab, and just look for the meeting that's interesting to you. Click on it, and it will give you more information. The Anchorage Assembly does have a couple of meetings today. Actually, they have one. They have an Infrastructure, Enterprise, and Utility Oversight Committee meeting at 11 a.m. today, City Hall Conference Room 155.
Their budget and finance committee meeting today has been canceled, so the only thing is really enterprise and utility. If you want more information on the Anchorage Assembly, just go to muni.org, and then when you get there, click on the Assembly tab, and it will bring you right into their calendar. As far as the Kenai Peninsula Borough goes,
The only thing I see on their calendar for today is there's a Central Emergency Service Area Board meeting that will be held at Saldana Prep from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight. There's nothing for the city of Kenai today. For the city of Saldana, there are no meetings. However, I want to remind everybody because the deadline is coming up here in just over a week. They do have a storefront improvement program. That is handing out grants up to $7,500 to improve your business's store funds.
For more details or information, you can go to Saldana.org and just look at their main website. You'll see grants up to $7,500. Just click on it. It'll bring you more information. Or you can call the planning department at 907-262-9107. Also... You can just, like I said, go to their website, Seldana.org. It's an easy-peasy lemon squeezy. All right, and last but not least, for the city of Homer.
The only thing on their calendar for today is a Parks, Art, Recreation, and Cultural Advisory Commission regular meeting. That's going to be at 530 tonight at City Hall in the Cal's Council Chamber. You can attend in person or via Zoom if you want more information, including their agenda. Just go to cityofhomer-ak.gov. My goodness, Daryl, I will tell you, I feel like sometimes when I'm getting through those announcements, I feel like it's a mouthful.
Well, that's only because you've got that mouthful going on there. I mean, you've got the coffee, you've got the chips. I mean, what else is on that desk with you? It's crazy. Good Lord. Well, you know what I have today? I have a box of cheesy dad jokes. Oh, now that is a big box of cheesy dad jokes. And speaking of that.
Are you able to, like, store those over the winter or, like, maybe do some kind of storage, dad joke storage that you know of? No, dad joke storage. No, my receptacle generally can't retain them. It's that bad, huh? That bad, that bad. So let me ask you, what are the most polite foods? I don't know. Peas and tacos. Oh, wow. You're welcome. It's going to be one of those days. It is going to be one of those days. All right. Well, today is going to be, I have an outline for today. I do have.
a bunch of content. However, since this is going to be my last day here this week and you will have a guest host tomorrow, I'm treating this like a free forum Friday. So if there's something you want to talk about, we're happy to talk about it.
We'll get into some of the highlights of the day. And a little bit later in the show, in the 7 o'clock hour, Kathy McCollum from the Mat-Su School Board is going to be joining us. So we're going to have some discussions about what's going on in the Mat-Su. And I will tell you, this is like a ray of sunshine.
It is a beacon of hope for all school districts out there. There are places where you're seeing improvements and you're seeing great things happening, and I really wanted to highlight that today because the Mat-Su School Board is really, they're just...
The school district out here is just crushing it. They're really doing great things, and we wanted to explore that a little bit to hopefully give some others and other school districts hope that it can be done. If you'd like to call in and be part of the show, the number is 522-0650. We're going to go ahead and... take our first break of the morning. We'll be right back.
Welcome back, Current Time 621. Well, I want to remind everybody, Senator Hughes is on and we talked about it. Must Read Alaska now has an article about it. I want to remind everybody on Saturday, this Saturday from 9 to noon at Palmer Junior Middle School, there will be a food security workshop. It's an opportunity for you to come and learn all kinds of things, tips on growing, gathering, harvesting, preserving food for you and your family. You know, as we look at this event,
I mean, this is all about resiliency and independence. And so if you've ever thought about raising chickens or gardening or preserving food, whether it's dehydrating food, freeze-drying food, Canning food, any of those types of things that you're like, I don't really know where to start. This is a great place. Senator Hughes has a quote in here. This is an exciting event and opportunity for Alaskans of all stripes, whether you've always wanted your own fresh eggs.
thought raising goats might suit your fancy, are hungry for more knowledge about the best gardening practices, or are ready to maximize productivity despite your small space, this event will be the perfect venue for you to network with friendly and helpful neighbors. in the know. And so, again, that will be this Saturday, February 22nd, from 9 to noon at Palmer Junior Middle School. It is a free event. And as we have heard from Senator Hughes herself, there's going to be a free...
Free homemade cinnamon rolls there. So you can't beat that. That sounds phenomenal. The other thing I want to remind people of is, as Amy said, It's almost springtime, almost garden time. You're going to be able to find experts from the Matsu Farm Bureau there and also bring the kids out because there will be students from the Future Farmers of America. A great program gets the kids into agriculture and just out. And if you ever want to do beekeeping.
You might want to check it out too. Yeah, see that? There's so many different options. Another thing that's going to be going on here coming up soon, it's going to be March 15th, but you've got to get your tickets early because tickets are going fast. The Valley Republican women of Alaska have their Lincoln Day dinner. And the keynote speaker is going to be none other than Congressman Nick Begich III. So that will be March 15th at 630 at Settlers Bay Lodge.
If you'd like to get tickets, all you have to do is go to VRWAK.com. Again, that's VRWAK.com. It stands for Valley Republican Women's. Alaska, right? So is this a place to gather together, to network and stuff like that? Well, of course. So that's why it's the Lincoln Desert? Oh, so sad. So sad. I love that you try. I love that you try. But, you know, I've been to a lot of Lincoln Day dinners. It's always fun. They typically have different types of silent auctions, live auctions.
different things that you can score that are pretty cool. And, of course, everybody...
Everybody, the Hoos Who of the Valley will be there. There will be a lot of Anchorage folks there, too, I'm sure. But it will be at Settlers Bay Lodge. So it's $125 a ticket, which, you know, sounds a little steep, but it's a great event for a great... cause and uh look the valley republican women's club full disclosure i i'm a member of the club right i'm a member of a lot of clubs but i'm a member of the club and i you know i watch
They were massive supporters of Nick Begich when he ran, and they were one of the first ones leading the charge out there in vocal support for him, and they worked really hard. to help him get elected. So they're staunch supporters, so it's great to see him coming back to the Valley. This will be the first event that I see him at since he's been elected. I know he did one in Juneau.
But this will be the first one that I see him at since he's been in office. So it's going to be exciting to kind of hear an update directly from him of what's going on in Juneau. He has been busy, busy, busy in D.C. I mean, he has not let his... He's not been resting on his laurels, let's put it that way. All right, so those are all my announcements that I got. So let's go to the phones, and our friend Jay McDonald is with us. Let's get him on here. Good morning, Jay.
Hey, good morning. So I wanted to talk about the Anchorage School Board, partly because there's an election coming up with three incumbents on the ballot that are all involved in this, and partly because the things that they've been doing since 2020... Now they're putting a huge pile of money on the table like we're risking losing federal funds because what they're doing is violating Title IX and they don't want to stop doing it. So specifically, something that totally drives me crazy.
is the Anchorage School District, since 2020, their official transgender policy, starting very young, you know, in elementary, they deny this, but starting in elementary school, they teach the kids that gender is a spectrum and it's fluid. and they encourage them to experiment, and they can pick their own name and their own gender at school. And when they do that, the official Anchorage School District policy is that they hide it from the parents, and they don't inform the parents.
And whenever I bring this up, a lot of people think that I'm just making it up, even though you can go to their website right now and you can pull it up and read the document. And I post the document and they still don't believe me. But then also the people that are for it, they say, oh, well.
It's really important that we hide it from the parents because there could be some bad parents out there that aren't supportive. And that's what the school district, that's what the school board members say. That's what people like Annie Hallman say. All three of the incumbents that are on there now support this.
this is the thing that people need to understand when they're talking about keeping secrets from parents that's not something where they opt you out your your administrators at the school they don't know who you are who's the administrator at your school you don't know who they are either
They're not opting you out. This is something where they automatically, their policy is to keep secrets from your kids. They collect your kid's personal cell phone number so they can communicate directly with your kid via text and phone. They collect your kids' personal info. They totally cut the parents out, and their policy is they are specifically avoiding sharing this information with parents. And it goes so far. What I posted yesterday on my Facebook,
They have a sex change contract that they have the kid sit down and fill out with. You can read the thing. It's got signature blocks for a child and a signature block for the principal. And it's got all these fields on there like... which sports the kid will play in and what their name will be and all these other things. And don't worry, we won't tell your parents. Okay? And this is straight off of their website. Just go on Google right now. Google Anchorage School District.
Transgender. It's one of the top results. You scroll to the bottom of the page, the PDF comes up, and the contract is at the end of the PDF. And it drives me crazy because every single incumbent is up right now. I can't believe that these people haven't been fired. You know, they're keeping secrets from parents. It's their official policy to cut parents out of their kid's life, to lie to the parents.
It's right there out in the open. And whenever I bring this up, you know, around people like Andy Hallman, they gaslight. Like, it's on their website. You can see it right now. You can read it. And they still gaslight and they say, oh, no, no, that's not what's happening. That's not real. He's making it up. He just wants attention. You can read it right now, guys. You know, it's all there.
You know, as I'm looking at it right here, I am looking at it. It says Anchorage School District Compliance slash EEO office plan to address Title IX gender issues. The information in this document is part of the individual's official record. and is protected by FERPA slash HIPAA, this information will only be shared with the individuals who have a legitimate need to know. That means they won't be telling the parents.
Individuals needing such accommodations must request this process at each new school or work location. Student records, birth first and last name, birth gender. preferred name, concerns, needs, requests, preferred pronoun, bathroom accommodation, What else do they got in here? Locker room accommodation, dress code, participation in intramurals and or athletics, other consideration, name to be used in school publications and other.
events. I am in agreement with the above plan and it has a line for student slash employee signature and then principal signature. Yeah, so when they mention FERPA, That means that even if a parent requests it, they're not going to share it with them. OK, when they mentioned Title IX, they had that perverse understanding of Title IX that Biden put out.
that was saying, well, the boy says he's a girl, so he's a girl now, and he has the rights of a girl. That is not the interpretation that Title IX was ever meant to have. It's the opposite of that now, and now they're risking losing their federal funding because they are violating Title IX.
And also, it says on their website, oh, we talked to our lawyers about compliance with state law. State law very clearly says that the teachers are not allowed to have conversations about sex and sexuality without informing parents ahead of time.
This has never been legal, guys. This is what drives me nuts about Dunleavy. Like, the guy's just asleep on watch. Okay, like, they're not enforcing state law. Like, these people, they're totally gone rogue, and they're pushing this radical... ideology on kids and the worst part is they've turned they take the kid and they drive a wedge between the kid and the parents they turn you into an enemy and this is all happening without the parents even knowing that it's happening because it's all
I appreciate you bringing it up. I saw it. The first thing when I opened my Facebook this morning was I saw your post, and so I looked at it. So I'm glad you brought it up. I think people should look more into this. And, again, Jay is 100%. right. I mean, you know, when people support stuff like this and cut parents out, should they be voted out? Absolutely. They absolutely should be voted out. Jay, do you have any likes this year?
Do you have any specific candidates that you're peddling this year, or is it just vote against the incumbents? It's a very simple rule, okay? There's three people. Find out who the incumbents are. Their official policy is to lie to you. If they'll lie to you about this, they're lying about other stuff too, guys. Why would you vote somebody whose intent is to deceive you to lie to you?
Why would you vote for somebody who's outright like they're your enemy, guys? They are your enemy. I don't know how it could be any more clear than that. Like if somebody's intent, purpose in life is to lie to you and to trick you to get what they want out of you. Do not vote for that person. All three incumbents are very... I have to end it now, or I'm going to burst a bloodbath on my eyeball.
Yeah, no worries. Well, I appreciate you bringing it up. I'm going to take a quick break because I'm over my mark. But I appreciate you bringing it up, and then I will recap for people who's running for the school board this year. Let's go ahead and take a quick break. Jay, thank you so much. your call this morning i appreciate it we'll be right back Reach out to Amy now. 907-522-0650. That's 907-522-0650. It's Amy Devosky on NewsRadio 650. KENI.
Welcome back. Current time 637. Okay, so I pulled the list for the Anchorage School Board. We have two seats up this year. School Board seat A and B. In seat A, Margo Bellamy is the incumbent. Running against... Alexander Rosales. School Board seat B, as in Bravo, we have Kelly Lessons, who is the incumbent, running against Mark Anthony Cox.
So there you go. Those are your two seats that are up for the Anchorage School Board. For the Anchorage Assembly, we have a number of seats that are going up. Here we go. We have Anchorage School Assembly District 1, Daniel Volans, the incumbent, Nick Danger is running, and Daniel George.
Daniel George, my favorite in that race. District 2, which is Chugiak Eagle River, we have Jared Gerker, my favorite in that race, running against two people named one guy, Kyle Walker, and another, David Littleton. We'll get into that race next week when I come back, because I've got to tell you, it's legit. But both Eagle River Republican districts have endorsed Jared Gerker, just FYI. District 3.
West Anchorage, Cameron Perez-Verdia is running for re-election, and he is being challenged by Amy Steen and Jonathan Duckworth. District 4, which is Midtown, we have an open seat because, remember, Meg Zolotel is not running. So we have Aaron Baldwin Day squaring off against Don Smith. District 5, seat H, we have East Anchorage. This one is Angela Frank, John Stiegel, and Yarrow Silvers in that race. Yarrow is like the hard lefty in that race.
District 6, we have Darren Colbrey versus Keith McCormick. So those are your Anchorage races that will happen. The election is going to be April 1st. So when March hits, we'll get into those races. a little bit more in more depth. But those are your candidates. If you want more information, you can just go to muni.org, and right in the middle of the front page, they have an Elections tab. Just click on that.
And if you click on candidates, it'll bring you to the candidate page where they have all the information on all the candidates. You know, Daryl, I love reading some of the editorials that Suzanne has in Mustard, Alaska. And Winn-Grooning had a really good one relating to education. I don't know if you saw it. I saw it, but I didn't get all the way through it. I kind of scanned a couple of the paragraphs. Yeah, it's pretty long. It's pretty lengthy.
But he's absolutely right. So Wingarding says, Alaskans must decide what's more important, uncheck school funding or improve student achievement. I mean, the title says it all, honestly. He's absolutely positively right. It says that here, I'm going to give you just parts and pieces of it because it's a pretty long editorial, but he makes some really, really good points, and I think it's...
It's appropriate, considering we're going to be talking to Kathy McCollum from the Matt Sue School Board here in just a few minutes. But he says the calls for boosting education funding by increasing Alaska's base student allocation, while mostly well-intentioned, frequently miss the point. Proponents often frame their proposals for a higher BSA in terms of how the increase would affect Alaskan's Permanent Fund dividend.
This is a false choice that leads to emotional, unproductive arguments that don't address the root of the issue. He starts to talk about a column that Larry Persley wrote that just talks about how you have to, you know. how you're just going to be lowering the PFD, but he says, personally compares the historical increase in the BSA, 2%, to inflation over the past 10 years, 32%. However, he entirely ignores annual funding increases.
that have occurred periodically throughout the same period. And actual Alaska education funding during that time period increased 14%, resulting in the seventh highest per pupil expenditure in the country. in 2024. I've been saying this forever. They keep saying, oh, there hasn't been a funding increase to the BSA. It's like what about the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars that they allocate almost every year outside of the BSA?
But that's not what they want. They want extra upon extra, and that was just extra. This is a political argument when they ignore the funding outside the formula. If I tell you, Daryl... I'm going to give you, you know, let's say $300 million because that's roughly, it's been between $200 million and $300 million almost a year. You're hired.
that they've been giving, right? So if I give you $300 million, but I'm not going to put it in your checking account. Instead, I'm going to put it in your savings account. I still gave you $300 million, and guess what? You can still spend that money, right? So that's basically the argument that the NEA, that these people that are screaming about the BSA, that's the argument they're making is they didn't really give you the money because they didn't put it in your checking account.
Right? That's the argument they're making. When they say there hasn't been a BSA increase, they're intentionally not telling you that there's been hundreds of millions of dollars outside the BSA almost every year for the past 20 years. They're just intentionally not telling you that. To me, that's deceptive. It's very deceptive. Well, it's deceptive, and it's also going to the line of, so...
Think of this as kind of like wages at work. You don't get a raise every year unless, of course, you're a union. And I'm not bashing you guys. But otherwise, you go a little while. You work with what you got. And especially if your bosses are giving you bonuses all through the year.
You don't complain. You're still meeting your obligations, your duties, especially from the boss. They've given you extra money saying, you know what, here's a $500 bonus. We can't raise your wages, but you know what, here's another $1,000 bonus next year. It's the same thing. You are getting extra money. You're able to meet your needs. But, oh, wait, I want more. I want to see it on my W-2 form. This is what drives me crazy, because there are still...
Giving you the money. That's my point and and it drives me crazy that nobody says it when Gruning is saying it in here, and he also he also basically points out In here he says This year, the legislature will consider an education funding bill, HB 69, which seeks to permanently increase the base student allocation. That's the BSA we always talk about. The bill that would boost the BSA by $1,808. That's a 30% increase per student, right? Plus not just the $1,808, but it's plus inflation.
plus projected inflation. He says phasing into a higher BSA over the next three years results in total education funding of about $1.8 billion by year three, which would add over $500 million annually. A 40% increase to schools. The question not answered is how or will K-12 student achievement benefit as a result? Alaska ranked 51. out of 53 U.S. jurisdictions in reading and math among fourth graders and in reading among eighth graders at 47th out of 53.
And that's the same with eighth grade math, according to the NEAP scores. That's the National Assessment of Education Progress. So as he goes on and he talks about this, I mean, what he has highlights throughout his story. He highlights what we've been talking about for, you know, two years basically, which is we have been throwing money at education over and over and over again. And if you don't have in there metrics by which people are going to be judged by improvement,
What has it gotten us? It hasn't gotten us better scores. It hasn't gotten us better outcomes. It hasn't gotten us kids that can read better or do math better or are more ready for life when they graduate. fact our results are not going up in most areas instead what we're seeing We're seeing that we're throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at a situation, and we're almost dead last in the country. Second from the bottom? I mean, that's pathetic.
But here their solution is let's just spend more money on it. But they have no metrics. They have no accountability. They have no plan to actually make the results better. That's what's so crazy to me. And when I hear them talk about, over and over again, talk about, oh, there's been no increase to the BSA. But has there been an increase to education spending? That's the question. The answer is yes. And again,
The real question for those that want to spend over the next three years, I've been saying $1.4 billion because that was the original fiscal note, but now Wynn is saying $1.8 billion. How are you going to pay for it? My PFT, obviously. Not just your PFT. I mean, we're talking $1.8 billion over the next three years. I mean, and this is going to be continual.
like a few hundred million every single year, say 500 million every single year, there comes a point and they're building in an inflation adjuster in there. So what that means is there will come a point your PFD is not only going to not cover it, they're going to have to come to you for more taxes. There's no other way around it.
There's no other way around it. They cannot have a huge increase to the BSA, and they cannot have a return to a defined benefits plan that's $6 billion in the hole. They cannot have both and not come to the BSA.
Alaska taxpayers for money that it's mathematically impossible because they have to have a balanced budget there because there will come a point they will they will rely on savings for the first couple of years and then they'll come to you and say give me the money If not, they'll scream, holy moly, and the Washington Monument argument will come out and everything's going to be cut and you're hurting children.
I got a quick question here. You said a word that really makes my hackles go up. So we give them a budget every year, correct? Yes. And they're supposed to spend that on the students every year, right? This is supposed to be kind of basically a net sum. I give you $100,000. you spend $100,000, right?
How do they have a savings account of tens of millions? That's what I really want to know. How can you have this? There's all kinds of shuffling and stuff like that. ASD has all kinds of them. I got to tell you, I got in this argument with them before. And, you know, this is the problem.
budget because you will find they have the best slush funds. And when we talk about, when you talk about, I mean, it's millions and millions and millions of dollars. They have to build a school out of it. Look, it's where they choose to spend their money. I mean, that is their policy, right?
And the fact of the matter is we have people that I'm starting to question if they can actually do basic math that are running the show. Because I'm looking at them going, you know, I'm just shaking my head. I mean, again, you know, it goes back to Jay's point. It's people that are. not going to be honest with you, do they really deserve your vote and your support? Because when somebody says to you, well, there hasn't been a BSA increase in all these years, and da-da-da-da, and we're done.
But has there been an increase in education spending? The answer is yes. And it's been almost every single year to the tunes of hundreds of millions of dollars. When the government puts in, when the legislature puts in $200 million to $300 million in additional funding to schools, I'd say that's education. education spending. So they can't say education spending hasn't gone up. So they try to parse it with political words and just focus on the formula because they're trying to be deceptive.
That's what irritates me about this whole conversation. All right, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we will take your calls. 522-0650. Welcome back. I'm going to go straight to the phones. And Roland is with us. Good morning, sir. Good morning. Well, year after year, we're losing more students. And they built a brand new school when we don't need it. We need to be closing schools in Anchorage.
And Fairbanks has closed several schools, and I don't understand their thought process in this whole thing. They've got these kingdoms that they've made, and they've got all this. A lot of it, I think, is they've created jobs at the top that they need to get rid of because that's what you do. You create these kingdoms and you fill slots. We need to have does come to us and take care of these schools. They have this power-hungry thing where they think they need more money.
And then they do stupid things like they hire a guy that isn't qualified to even do the job. Oh, I know. You know, there was a couple weeks ago, there were some articles going on. They're crying and bellyaching. They're broke, right? But they build this new school that they don't really need, let's be honest. I mean, they're talking about closing schools, and instead they go and rebuild.
Inlet View Elementary and then on top of it they pull like 30 40 million dollars I can't remember what it was but it was a lot out of savings to do it right just think about that they have that amount of money in savings and then on And they couple it together with bond money and everything else. And then on top of it, they're wanting to cut all these programs and sports and this and that and the other. And then they're expanding their DEI. They're actually investing more money.
their DEI nonsense. I mean, it's about priorities. I mean, what they spend their money on is their policy. So it tells you where they're, I mean, when you're talking about closing schools, why are you building new schools? That doesn't make any sense. I mean. It's incredible, Roland. What they do is we have schools like in Mississippi that have four people that we have a pattern.
Why don't you go after that pattern and do what's right, you know? Well, because, Roland, that would be too logical. You make an excellent point. See, this is the problem. When we enter common sense into the equation, I think it's a little lacking with the Anchorage School Board. I'm hitting my heartbreak, Roland. Thank you so much for calling in. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Kathy McCollum with the Matus School Board is going to be joining us. Stay with us.
The opinions expressed on this show are those of the host and not of iHeartMedia or its employees. Thank you for listening to NewsRadio 650 KENI. Welcome back to live, local, and insightful Morning Drive Radio on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Welcome back to Hour 2 of the Amy Dobosky Show, broadcasting live and local every weekday morning from 6 to 8 a.m. right here on 650 a.m. if you're listening to us on the radio.
If you're listening to us online, you can also find us at our website, 650keni.iheart.com. You can download the iHeartMedia app. There's lots of ways you can follow the show, whether you're listening live or you're listening on repeat. We appreciate everybody who listens, the thousands and thousands of Alaskans that listen every day.
We hope we're bringing you interesting content. We try to talk about things that are important. And in my view, one of the most important things is our kids and the education they give. And that's why I am so excited. To bring back to the show Ms. Kathy McCollum, she is a school board member with the Mat-Su Borough School District. Hey, good morning, Kathy. Good morning, Amy.
Thank you for having me this morning. Oh, it's great. You know, I have to tell you, every time I hear you speak, and I got to hear you speak last week and kind of give an update on what's going on in the Mat-Su borough, it gives me hope because I think as we talk about education, especially in Alaska, Let's go.
You know, there's people that think, like, how do we fix this? And there are these beacons of light that happen where you're actually seeing improved outcomes. You're seeing a school board that's responsible with their money and really focused on results. And that's what I see for the Mat-Su School District. And I'm just excited to see what is coming next. But this month is Career and Tech Month, is it not?
That is correct, and I'm so happy to be here to share some positive news. You know, there's so much talk going on about education in general, but... We've got amazing things happening in the Matsu Borough School District, and one of them is our Career and Technical Education Program. And people may be familiar with the words voc-ed or vocational education. That's kind of the old terminology that people constantly say things like, we need more shop, we need more home ec.
And I thought, this is the time we need to share exactly what is happening out there. I don't think people are as familiar, and I wish everybody could see what I see every day. It is amazing. Well, you know, talking about career and technical training, you know, it really shocked me. You sent me some information on the different programs that are available in the MATSU. I didn't realize there was such a variety.
and it was so popular. Right, it is. I mean, we have so many students. For instance, we have 6,000 high school students in the Mattsuboro School District. And there are 9,000 career tech enrollments. So that means that more than one per student, you know, at any one time. Just the numbers are amazing of students that participate and are earning actual certifications. I think that's something that is new in the career tech ed. Not new for us, but...
People think of shop and home ec where you just had the experience, the exploration of it. Our kids are actually earning career certifications, like welding certifications. At Westfilla High School, there's a Greenlee pipe bending certification kids can earn. Oh, wow. Yeah, EKG certificates at Houston High. So these kids are actually learning being EKG certified.
And I can tell a real fun story about our CNA program. And I'd like to give a little shout-out to our Teacher of the Month for the Mat-Su Borough, and that's Shawnee Glenn, who... runs the CNA program at CareerTech High School. And she is amazing. And this program started in 2001, so it's been around for a while. And they have the capacity to produce 80 CNAs a year at school for the health care industry in our valley and around the state.
And a funny story is Maple Springs, you're familiar with Maple Springs? Yeah, the assisted living home or rehab. we approached them and asked if they would take some of our students, you know, for experiences and work. And they said, oh, my goodness, that would be so fantastic. We'd love to do that. We could employ them, and then eventually we could put them through our own CNA training. And our amazing Trish Zug, who runs our CTE program, said, oh, no, you don't understand.
They are already certified. So, yeah, our students are leaving high school and ready for... jobs out in the public which is you know this is amazing when when i'm looking at some of your programs whether it's in the agricultural field the mechanics field you know the medical field the culinary arts i mean there's there's
different types of, you know, data type, like, computer software programs. As I'm looking at all these different things, the thing that strikes me is, can you imagine, you know, when I graduated high school at 17, when if I would have been job ready to just jump into a you know a very skilled field and make great money and have a great career I mean the advantage you guys are giving these kids because I have been a firm believer that
not every kid kid is meant for college you know I have one kid that went to college one kid that went into the military they're both incredibly successful and it fit both of them not every kid is meant for college and and I I think that's what you guys are recognizing, is there are different paths for these students. And those different paths, they're filling a need in the community. I know, you know, I work at the Chugiak Senior Center.
We're constantly looking for CNAs. We are constantly short of CNAs. And so as I hear you talk about these programs, these are real-world needs in our community, and the fact that they're job-ready when they graduate is amazing. that shocked me when I read some of the stuff that you sent me is the actual graduation rates in these programs. Right. That's right. And that's a big reason for us to...
increase this program. It is a 98% graduation rate for students who are concentrators. And that word just means they take two or more classes in their area that they are fond of, you know, say a CNA or we have that tech, we have construction, all kinds of things. We have a really cool new program at Wasilla High, Yamaha Small Engines. Oh!
Yeah, which is, in my opinion, really needed. Have you ever had to have a boatloader fixed? It'd come in handy. Yeah, I was thinking for every Alaskan, it'd come in handy. And I'm thinking about the business owners and the people that are looking for workers in our community that are listening to our conversation.
this is a great opportunity for people to reach out to the Mat-Su School District and say, hey, we are an employer. Potentially we might want to partner with you, especially if you're short on staff and you need some of the people with these skills. That's exactly right. And I'll tell you that Trish Zug, our CTE coordinator, is... really working hard at that. They make connections in the community all the time. What do you need? How can we work with you? And I think that's a big thing.
And students are, like I said, going to work right away out of high school. And sometimes while they're still in high school, these places are picking them up for summer work or, you know, just after school work already, especially. our kids that are in the welding programs and um well kind of everything i guess it's it's really exciting
That's so exciting. And when we talk about the Mat-Su School District, one of the things that I appreciate, you guys are so supportive of, is not one, kids are not cookie cutters, right? Not one thing fits one kid.
Parents really can choose which school and which program is best for their child. That is right. And, you know, we actually have a lot of movement around the high schools. Kids will take a class at... let's say career tech, but they're enrolled at Wasilla High or they take a class at Wasilla High and they're enrolled at Colony because our programs are all over the district and, you know, they just work with what fits their program and their schedule.
So we've been very flexible about that for a long time in our district where kids can move around. Oh, I'm very excited to watch what is happening. Kathy, I didn't spring this on you, but I was hoping to keep you for one more segment because I want to get into some of the, there's a lot of debate about results and how to improve. education and spending do you have one more segment available for us this morning
I do. I can stay, for sure. All right. Fantastic. We're talking to Kathy McCollum. She's a school board member from the Matsu School District. And when we come back, we're going to get into something that maybe is a little bit more global, which is spending relating to education.
How do we get the best bang for our buck? And are there school districts that are doing it well? Because I think, I've been saying this, I think the Matsuburo could be a beacon that other school districts could look at and start replicating some. of what they're doing we're going to take a quick break we'll be right back You're listening to live, local, and always insightful Morning Drive Radio with Amy DeBosky on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Get on the show now by calling 907-5220.
Welcome back. Current time, 719. On this glorious Thursday morning, we're talking with Kathy McCollum. She is a school board member with the Matsu School District. You know, as I'm trying to put into perspective for the conversation for folks, the conversation around education funding, I don't know that there's a better person I could ask this question because, Kathy, you were a teacher for education.
I don't even remember how many years. Over 20 years, right? Thirty. Thirty-two years. Thirty-two years. See, I was going to say 30, but I didn't want to be presumptuous. So you were a teacher for 32 years, and you have watched. You had. Countless numbers of students go through your classroom. You've watched the education debate as probably a teacher who's a member of the union for a time and now on the school board.
They keep screaming bloody murder like we are just not investing in education. And it drives me crazy because I know the argument is always over the base student allocation. But I get frustrated because as a parent, I want to make sure the kids are learning, the outcomes are good. And as I see money getting thrown at education over the past 20 years in Alaska, you know,
You get frustrated because you see us ranking, you know, 51st in the nation out of 53 districts that are, you know, counted or whatever. I mean, what is this? As you see this debate, is it really about money or? How do you see this debate? As somebody who's been in education, now you're on the school board. Right. And let me say, of course, I'm just speaking for myself, not the school board.
Yeah, you can hear me? I feel like I'm kind of out. Oh, yeah. No, you're perfect. Okay, perfect. Yeah, I feel like let's look at a policy that really worked. And one I can point to recent is the Alaska Reads Act. And we're seeing great improvement from that, and it's only been a few years. And so I do believe there are policies that can really make a huge difference.
So some of these programs that maybe the governor is wanting, we need to look carefully at those and think about how that can help because I don't believe it's always just money. You know, things are expensive, of course, and we have rising costs. We have teacher contracts that increase every single year. And so sometimes you have to figure out how you're going to cut this budget if you have to do that.
But there are programs like the Alaska Reads Act or policies that can really make a difference. And I'm not sure if you're familiar with that. Yeah, well, we talked about that a little bit, I think, when at first, I think Bob Griffith was on to talk to us about the Reeds Act. And I think you're pointing to a policy where a lot of people don't really realize that the Mat-Su borough has seen improvement.
test scores and outcomes based on policy changes and can you talk a little bit about that and some of the successes that you're seeing right well
If people are unfamiliar, the Alaska Reads Act is a K-3, so kindergarten and third grade. And so, of course, that's going to take a few years before we start to really see it in the upper grades where a lot of the... statewide testing and stuff happens you know we do assess these primary students but it's not reported in you know where you say we're 51st that's testing older students so I think it's going to take a few years for us to
see the results of this policy, but I'm really encouraged by it. Every year, our scores are dramatically going up. And so I credit these teachers at all levels, actually, that are really working hard. to ensure these kids are getting the basic skills. Kids have to be able to read to do anything else. Exactly. And so we're really focusing on that. And I would just say, you know, the Matsu School District, we are focused.
just laser focused on student learning and increasing learning. And so even this career tech education that I was talking about, that, you know, that's a great thing, but it's not the only thing. Many, many of our students are not just in that career tech vein. They're taking welding, but maybe they're going to college. So they can take AP courses at the same time that you're taking career tech. So they're making themselves have choices.
You know, maybe they go to college, but they have a welding, you know, they have a hobby even. Well, and here's the thing. When you learn those other life skills, a lot of times those can help fund your path through college, right? Like I was in dentistry. That's right.
And so that paid, when I was working in the dental field, that paid for my college. I didn't take out student loans. I had a good-paying job, and I saved my money, and I paid for myself to go through college, you know, while I worked. And you know what, another statistic is,
that really surprised me when you were talking about how many kids really, I mean, we do have a number of kids that we're seeing graduate high school with either an associate's degree or very close to it because of the different opportunities they have at Mat-Su Middle College, too. Yes, yes. And we have over 200 students there at Mat-Su Middle College, which is amazing. But even kids just at any other high school are earning college credit.
or they're taking EP classes, which will count towards credits when they go to college at many universities. So, yeah, they're making good choices. We're focusing on student learning and giving kids options. when they graduate, you know, and trying to help them pay for it if they can, you know, if they can work hard and do that. Like you said, you paid for your college with your dental work. We've got kids graduating, DNA.
They're going to nursing school but working as a CNA while they're in nursing school or pharmacology or, you know, all of the, what, I think we have 34 CTE programs in our... Over 200 courses kids can take. So, yeah, I think that giving kids options is what they need, and we know those things keep kids in school, too. Oh, yeah. You know, it gives them something to be excited for. It gives them some hope. And when you look at...
I would think it would be very disturbing for kids to look at life and say, I don't have a path forward. I don't know what to do. And I think... I think what we're seeing is so many different options in the Mat-Su that kids can do. They can try something on and say, do I like this? Is this something I want to do for a few more years or maybe forever? And I think those options...
are really healthy for kids to have those types of options. And seeing the success rate, I was just blown away the fact that of your CTE, of your, you know, these types of career and technical career fields, these types of classes when you have your your kids with a 98% success rate basically finishing those programs I mean that is staggering to me how are you guys performing with your charter schools
Okay, our charter schools are, of course, some of the top performing in the whole state and the whole country. Our charter schools are awesome. And I'm excited because you probably know there was a bond passed just this past election. Those are always, you know, does the public want to support this? We just thought, well, we'll see what they think, you know, put it to the voters. And they voted to build three new buildings for our...
three charter schools, and people might think, why would we do that? Well, the charter schools, out of their budgets that they run for their school, are paying a lease for the buildings that they're in right now. And a pretty big lease payment. We have American Charter, Academy Charter, and my mind is blank this morning, the other one. Oh, Birch Tree.
And they're paying, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in lease payments for their buildings. And so if we can get them into a building and they're going to help pay off that bond themselves. A lot of people aren't aware of that, that that was. part of the deal that they'll help pay off the bond. So we'll pay it even sooner. It won't be totally on the voters. And they'll be in a building that the borough actually owns. And we won't have those lease payments going out of our funds.
Well, you know, I got to tell you, I appreciate the fact that you guys are cost conscience. You guys look at results and you recognize, okay, when we have a winning program, something that's doing really well, you invest more in it and get. I mean, to me, this is common sense, and I think it's common sense for a lot of parents out there, and that's why we get so frustrated when we see, you know, on the legislative level, sometimes the conversation around education just talks about money.
and doesn't talk about policy changes or outcomes or replicating winning programs. So I think that's where my frustration comes in because I see this. I look to the Matsuburo and I say, look at what they're doing right. Why can't we do more of that? And I wish more of that conversation would happen in Juneau. Well, I thank you for that. We will take any encouragement we can get, and it is a tough thing. We just have to, like I said, be focused.
all the time on student learning and that takes some severe training in your brain sometimes to not get distracted by all the other stuff out there. That's what I think we're doing here in the Metsu that is really great and giving kids as many choices as we can. And like you said, when they graduate from high school, they shouldn't... think, what should I be doing? You know, we want them to have a plan.
I think it's fantastic. Well, Kathy, thank you for spending so much time with us this morning. Kathy McCollum, she is a school board member that decided she would get up extra early with us this morning and talk about education because it isn't that important. If people want to learn more.
information about the Matsu borough and the school district and what they're doing, you can go to matsuk12.us. Kathy, thank you again for the call this morning. And look, today's our education day. We're focusing heavy on education. And we are so excited.
We're excited to see what's coming out of the Mat-Su Borough. Thank you so much for having me and letting me share the good news of the Mat-Su Borough and our CareerTech. And it's CareerTech Month, so celebrate all those. We have 66 teachers in our district. focus on CTE or STEM. So thank you. Yeah, fantastic. All right, we're going to go ahead and take a quick break. We'll be right back.
Never sounded so good. Amy Dembassi. 628 Mornings on NewsRadio 650 KENI. Call now. 907-522-0650. Welcome back. Current time is 738. Well, the vote to limit debate in the U.S. Senate on Kash Patel's confirmation is underway right now. What does that mean? It means the Republicans are... making a move to end the filibuster on Kash Patel, which means, if successful,
they will be able to vote on his confirmation today. So that vote to limit debate is underway right now. We have a vote count of 43 to 39, 43 in the affirmative, 39 in the news. new category. Susan Collins has come out and said she is not going to be voting for Kash Patel. My guess, I've been guessing this all along. I suspect Lisa Murkowski won't either, but we'll see. We'll see. We'll keep you posted if we get updates. We won't have a...
a confirmation vote on cash patel before the end of the show but we will at least have a hopefully a vote to end the filibuster on cash patel so we'll see we'll keep you posted but today has been a day of education we've been talking a lot about it in Alaska and joining the show now is another friend of mine who is a teacher
or was a teacher, I should say, for many years. I guess once a teacher, always a teacher. Right, Daryl? I think so. Let's see. Daryl, I'm having trouble. I can't pick him up. I'll get him for you. Can you pick up Todd for me? He's a little heavy, but I've got him. There he is. We got you. Good morning, sir. Good morning, Amy.
So I was going to say, I was very excited with this education conversation today when I saw you were going to call in because you were a teacher for many years. You know the game. You obviously understand the game that's played in.
you now. I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of the discussion we've had this morning. Yeah, well, thanks, Amy. And first, I want to say thank you to board member McCollum, Kathy McCollum, who Kathy and I were actually two people who opted out of the teachers union, asked the Janus decision, and I... I recognize her as just being one of those teachers that cares a great deal about students and learning and has no patience or interest in all of this.
All of the drama and all the nonsense. And sadly, what I see is I see some, you know, education associations, I'll call them, that spend a great deal of time trying to defend a system. and very little time actually focused on what parents want for their children and what is best for students when it comes to learning and preparing them for life after high school. So the Mat-Su School Board is amazing.
I'm so glad I live in the Mat-Su and have the assembly that I do and the school board that I have to represent me because we're killing it out here, Amy. She talked about CTE courses, and there are about 13,000 students enrolled in CTE courses. She quoted a number of over 9,000, I think. And if that's the case... If that's the case, which I believe it's true, then 75% of the CTE enrollments for high school students is occurring in the Mat-Su Valley, in the Mat-Su School District. Wow. 75%.
That's crazy. Well, I will tell you, I was so impressed. She sent me some information about CTE courses that are offered. I was so impressed with the breadth and the depth and the sheer number of things.
they offer in the Mat-Su. And then when you see those kids that enroll in two or more core classes you know towards this this career tech type of program they have a 98 graduation rate that just blew my mind i was shocked like i read it a couple times saying that can't be right that was amazing to me It is. And, I mean, not only does, you know, the study show that CTE concentrations, meaning students that are, you know, taking multiple CTE classes in the same...
kind of industry over time, you know, that their graduation rate is almost 100%. It's like 97% or something like that. But it's also very engaging, especially for NCT courses or for both. Girls and boys, and we only have two genders, by the way, girls and boys. They're for both, but when it comes to males and our public school system and, you know, sitting down in a desk all day long for seven hours a day.
It's a lot of fun, especially for boys. So that's another reason I think it's really helpful for young men because there's a lot more hands-on exploration. you know, getting up and moving around and doing things rather than sitting at a desk all day. So it's, yeah, it's very exciting. And parents and students demand, are demanding
these types of courses because they know that they can make a lot of money. Students can make a lot of money. I have a friend whose daughter is 20 years old. She inspects welds, Amy. She's 20 years old. Wow. And she inspects the welds in fuel tanks and storage tanks. And she's 20 years old. She has her welding inspecting certification.
Wow, that is incredible. I mean, think about the opportunities these kids have coming right out of high school to make great money, to be in a great career field. And maybe they're not going to do it their whole lives, but maybe they are. And look at the jumpstart. aren't they coming out of the gate? Yes, and when we offer these opportunities, and I'm going to, you know, kind of, I guess, celebrates a piece of the governor's legislation. I'll move into my day job mode here, but...
Part of what he's asked for is a change in the multiplier so that CTE courses are better funded and that districts can provide more of them. And the reason for that is because that's what parents and students want. And when we do that, we are also potentially keeping, not only creating people who can work in industry, but keeping them in Alaska.
And we have nationwide shortages, you know, when it comes to these tradesmen and women and the positions that are open. So making it attractive for these young people to stay and be welding inspectors and pilots. And CNAs, yeah, we need to make sure that happens.
Well, since we're transitioning a little bit to your day job, I have to tell you, and you've heard me lament about this before, I get so frustrated when I hear the debate around funding for education because I think it's been a bit disingenuous. in that you will hear people... Yeah, right. Okay, so I'm being generous. But I get so frustrated because one side will tell you, like, we're not investing in education. There's been no increase in the BSA. And I just think back to legislation.
legislative session after legislative session after legislative session where we're throwing hundreds of millions of dollars outside of the BSA to education specifically. So the investments have been there, but we're not seeing the same results. and so to me you know look I'll be candid I said this a lot of time
If we're going to give more money, what are we going to get in return? And I thought the governor's approach, when he said, let's invest in this, he had very specific things that he wanted, whether it's policy changes or a measurable... outcomes he had very specific things that he's saying okay let's do this to actually improve education that to me makes sense when I see the other side just say give us more money but we're not going to change anything we're doing that to me does not make sense
Yeah, and when we have something like the READS Act that is showing how when you target funding to a specific outcome, you have success. then why not duplicate that into other areas? And again, this is about what parents demand, what students want. We should be serving the customers. As a teacher, I taught economics, and so it made sense for me to make this comment, but I always told my students, you're my customers. Your parents are my customers.
I need to provide a product that is valuable to you. And here's the deal. When you don't do that, where do your customers go? Somewhere else. Exactly. Exactly. 100%. And that's what's happening. Well, we're seeing people.
Look, we're seeing people migrate like crazy to the Matsu. We're seeing the Matsu, and this is what's so mind-boggling to me. We're seeing a system that is responsive to their customers. The Matsu says, look, our parents... want more choices our parents want more opportunity they want more availability of these programs and they're responding in kind and you're seeing the success of those programs it is mind-boggling to me where other districts are
just tone deaf and all they're screaming for is more money. To me, I mean, we're not going to change the outcomes by just throwing money at an issue unless you change fundamentally what the product you're providing is meaningful and is something that people are going to be successful with. I don't know why this is so hard. Well, it shouldn't be. Funding in Alaska is tied to enrollment probably everywhere, but in Alaska, funding is tied to...
enrollment in the district, not attendance, enrollment. And when you do not provide a product, you lose students out of your district. People... I've heard this narrative that the governor wants to destroy public education. Good Lord, he's actually trying to save it. Like, the people destroying it are the people who aren't providing a product that parents want.
causing them to leave the school district, either, you know, pursuing private homeschool options or whatever they're choosing for their children. If you want to have a robust public education system. you need to provide a product that parents want. And this idea that just throwing more money at it is going to change things, my question to school boards and policymakers,
in local communities is what policies are you going to change? Tell me how that money is actually going to result in better outcomes. Because if all you're going to do is just say, I want more money, and you're not going to change anything that you're doing, Good luck. Yeah, exactly. What did I say?
when we keep doing the same failing thing over and over again and we're not learning from our own mistakes or we're not learning how to improve things and we see others that are, I think it's just a foolhardy error. And at some point you have to stop and say, you know,
Parents have to demand more. Well, Todd, I'm hitting my break, but I appreciate you calling in and weighing in on this important topic. Yeah, thanks, Amy. Have a good day. All right, you too. We're going to go ahead and take a quick break. We'll be right back. Welcome back to live, local, and insightful Morning Drive Radio on News Radio 650 KENI. Alright, well it's...
happening at the Senate. The Senate just voted to end debate on Kash Patel's nomination, which means the filibuster the Democrats were attempting to do on his nomination has now been broken. 51 to 49. That's the vote, right, Darryl? That was the vote I saw last there. That was the vote. So that means now they're going to go ahead and they will start voting this morning on Kash Patel's nomination as FBI director. And surprisingly to me.
Both McConnell and Murkowski voted to end debate. Yes, here, here, finally. I think she might be listening. I hope that might be translating. We'll see. We'll knock on wood. That might be translating into maybe, just maybe, Lisa Murkowski is going to vote for him. We'll see. We will know later today.
The other big news coming out of the Senate, Mitch McConnell is announcing he is not going to run for re-election in 2026. Shock. I think it's about time. Like, I got to be honest with you. There comes a point where, thank you for your service. Time to move on. I don't know what to say. He's got some big investments he's going to pay off and he just doesn't want to be on staff when he does it.
I got to be honest. I don't trust any of these politicians. Just don't trust them. You know, I look, I'm like, oh, we'll see. It used to be trust, but verify. I verify first and then trust second. Yep, yep. And, you know, I always say it. There's always. good ones down there there's no doubt about it whether it's easy or whether it's you know there's some good ones but
Afters through the night, dipping into the upper 20s, expecting afternoon highs to climb back into the mid to upper 30s. Some afternoon sunshine possible, otherwise mostly cloudy skies. For Alaska's weather source, I'm meteorologist. Welcome back to live local. and insightful Morning Drive Radio on NewsRadio 650 KENI.
All right, well, it's happening at the Senate. The Senate just voted to end debate on Kash Patel's nomination, which means the filibuster the Democrats were attempting to do on his nomination has now been... broken. So by a vote of 51 to 49, that's a vote, right Darryl? That was the vote I saw last there. That was the vote. So that means now they're going to go ahead and they will start voting this morning on Kash Patel's nomination as FBI director. And surprisingly to me.
Both McConnell and Murkowski voted to end debate. Yes, here, here, finally. I think she might be listening. I hope that might be translating. We'll see. We'll knock on wood. That might be translating into maybe, just maybe, Lisa Murkowski is going to vote for him. We'll see. We will know later today.
The other big news coming out of the Senate, Mitch McConnell is announcing he is not going to run for re-election in 2026. Shock. I think it's about time. Like, I got to be honest with you. There comes a point where, thank you for your service. Time to move on. I don't know what to say. He's got some big investments he's going to pay off, and he just doesn't want to be on staff when he does it.
I got to be honest. I don't trust any of these politicians. Just don't trust them. You know, I look, I'm like, oh, we'll see. It used to be trust, but verify. I verify first and then trust second. Yep, yep. And, you know, I always say it. There's always. some good ones down there. There's no doubt about it, whether it's Stacey or whether it's Juno. There's some good ones. But there's some others.
That I wasn't hired to walk my dog. That was very political. No doubt about it. All right. Well, that does it for Daryl and I today. Tomorrow you have a special treat. She is entertaining. she is informative and she is certainly in the know miss bernadette wilson will be sitting in for me while i'm out tomorrow so she will be in studio with daryl you're not going to want to miss it i got to tell you bernadette is a gem and you
You just never know what she's going to say, which makes it even more exciting. All right, that does it for us today. Stay tuned. I'm Dad Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, followed by Sean Hannity at 11. And, of course, the great Mike Porcaro is live and local every weekday. From 4 to 6. I will be back with you on Monday morning. Bernadette will be with you tomorrow morning. Until then, stay safe. God bless.
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 from people just like you. Call 1-888-4ALANON or go to alanon.org. He's back and he's got even more to say. Hear the O'Reilly Update with Bill O'Reilly. Only on News Radio 650 KENI. It's parent-teacher conference season. Spring break is coming up. And before you know it, the end of another school year.