In some rural towns in Alaska.. Gas is 11 dollars a gallon!

[Joanne98]

And we thought we had it bad!

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin used yesterday's vice presidential debate to stress her expertise with energy. But it seems she has an energy crisis back home that's hitting rural, and urban, schools particularly hard.

Earlier this week, the superintendent of Anchorage's school district and the city's mayor sent a letter to Gov. Palin, urging her not to "stand by and tolerate the deterioration of rural Alaska." Residents of Alaska's small villages and cities are fleeing their rural communities—and their schools—for urban Anchorage, where gas, heating fuel, and food are cheaper and social services are easier to get. In some rural areas, gas has hit $11 a gallon. In the nearly two months since the school year began, this exodus has resulted in an additional 500 Native Alaskan students for the Anchorage school district, which has had to hire an additional 18 teachers. Unexpected, mid-year growth like this is tough for school districts, which build their budgets months before school starts and have little recourse to gain additional money during the school year.

At the same time, Alaskan schools serving those rural communities are seeing their enrollments plummet. The Sept. 29 letter points out that Bristol Bay School District has seen its enrollment drop by about 20 percent and has reached a 20-year low this year of just 140 students.

Anchorage's superintendent and mayor urge Gov. Palin to set up a local, state, and federal task force to address this issue. On a national stage, this is an opportunity for Gov. Palin to call attention to the plight of rural America and its schools—which are so often at the center of small town America.

Rural schools, in particular, struggle with low graduation rates, recruiting teachers in hard-to-staff subjects, and offering their students a wide range of courses, especially at the high school level. Even though about 22 percent of the nation's public school students attend schools in communities with populations less than 2,500, problems facing rural schools have been largely overlooked by the presidential candidates, a fact that hasn't escaped advocates for rural education.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2008/10/in_palins_backyard_the_energy.html

[Blue_In_AK]

1. This really is a very serious problem

with no easy solutions. Almost all of the Native villages are accessible only by plane or boat, which accounts for the very high fuel costs out there. While they may not use as much gasoline as urban Alaskans, they still need it for their boats, four-wheelers and snowmachines, the basic modes of transportation. Many homes are heated by fuel oil, which is also extremely expensive in the Bush.

Not only is the migration into the cities causing a big financial strain on the school districts, but it's also quite a bit of culture shock for the kids who are used to small classes of almost exclusively Native children. We have large classrooms and a very multi-ethnic student body (roughly 90 languages spoken in the Anchorage School District) which has to be mind-boggling to these kids.

[Joanne98]

2. Bummer.

[w4rma]

3. Easy solution: Subsidize (nt)

[Blue_In_AK]

5. There was some subsidization this year,

thus the extra $1200 that was tacked onto our permanent fund dividend, although many felt that the money could have better been used towards expanding renewable energy resources here. At least according to some Ted Stevens campaign ads I've seen, one of his porkbarrel spending projects had to do with building wind farms in some villages to help ease some of their energy crunch, although it appears from this article that state money has been spent, as well.

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/printable_versions/news_detail.html?news_id=11599

http://dwb.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/v-printer/story/9493941p-9404804c.html

I also just read that $20 million in state funds has been allotted for home heating assistance this year, double last year's allotment.

[LiberadorHugo]

4. In some rural towns in Venezuela...

Gas is 12 cents a gallon. I guess Nancy Pelosi is right: Bolivarian welfare states suck and Bush is "my president".