During Alaska’s biggest education debate in years, the House Education Committee, one of the main avenues for debating policy in the Capitol, has been silent.“It’s kind of a tragedy that the education committee is not meeting when we’re still working on the most important priority of this session for both the majority and the minority,” said Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka and a minority-caucus member of the committee.
Participants in committee hearings could have made the case for the governor’s ideas, much in the same way that those in hearings of the Senate Education Committee over the past week have offered arguments and data against them. Afterward, the dispute escalated when Allard and Ruffridge failed to agree on a schedule for the following week’s meetings. Because they are co-chairs, their two signatures are required to set the schedule.“It’s not easy being a co-chair,” said Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, on Thursday.
Despite that “positive news,” as Tilton called it, the committee’s inactivity stymied work on any legislation.