Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
Kendall Cruz
“we're accusing correspondence families and schools of not following the law, which requires curriculum to be consistent with state standards, and it is, and it's evaluated by more than one person, including the supervising teacher.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Cynthia Frye
“In order to attract and retain highly qualified special education teachers and support staff, we must increase the salaries and reinstate a defined benefit retirement system.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Cynthia Frye
“We've heard that the buildings and the structures themselves are failing. Our children can't learn and staff can't thrive in deteriorating school buildings.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Lisa Parady
“ATSA, along with AASB and NEA Alaska, sent each legislator and the governor-elect a letter asking for 4 action items: full and forward funding, restore pension for public service, and invest in major maintenance school capital construction.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Kendall Cruz
“1 In 5 kids is using a correspondence school in Alaska. That is a huge percentage of our student population for us to be highly concerned about repealing or reducing the access to these programs for students that need them.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Kendall Cruz
“the reform that I see in this document is about repealing or forcing correspondence students back into a brick-and-mortar measure comparing them to the failed government-forced policies during COVID that forced distance brick-and-mortar learning, which is not the same as correspondence education.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Kathleen Yerbich
“I am tier 3. I will most likely never be able to retire unless the system changes. House Bill 78 was a solid, fiscally responsible bill.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Erika Beery
“On page 9, the part about incorporating correspondence programs into a broader brick-and-mortar framework, assuming that the post-pandemic research results regarding the efficacy of education when brick-and-mortar schools suddenly had to go online and virtual without preparation or curriculum that was designed for that setting, that that would apply to the homeschool setting is just not applicable.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Jennifer Schmidt
“Alaska is experiencing an educator shortage crisis right now, the worst in our history. At the start of this school year, districts reported 311 first-day teacher vacancies and 339 teachers on emergency certificates.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Danette Peterson
“In Fairbanks, 46 International educators are in our SPED classrooms and filling positions that would otherwise go vacant in supporting our most vulnerable students.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Jennifer Schmidt
“Alaska's relying heavily on international teachers. This is expensive for districts. There are currently 267 teachers on H-1B visas and 204 on J-1 visas in Alaska schools.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Linda Ruffridge
“I do have some concerns about the recommendation on page 9, particularly if its intent is an attempt to move students from correspondence programs back into traditional brick-and-mortar schools.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Susan Nedza
“In Juneau, we are at least $100,000 in the hole on our lunch program each year, and we cover that through our general fund.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Doug Gray
“I ask you to keep in support for professional development to have a qualified educator in front of each child in the definition of an adequate education”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Melinda Degnan
“page 9's incorporating public correspondence programs into a brick-and-mortar framework. Most families, including ourselves, homeschool because the brick-and-mortar framework isn't what we want or need.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
David Wright
“I urge the task force to protect Alaska's statewide correspondence programs and reject any recommendation that diminishes parental choice.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Jason Weber
“Keeping a roof intact or heating the building during the Alaskan winter should never require cutting teachers, class offerings, or student support or student activities.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
David Wright
“the task force recommends that school districts investigate effective methods for incorporating public correspondence programs into a broader brick-and-mortar framework, acknowledging extensive post-pandemic research indicating that for most students, in-person learning significantly outperforms online and distance learning, end quote.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - November 12, 2026 9:00am ·
Arthur Miller
“No producer has come to Chugach and said, I can guarantee and provide gas supply to you beginning in 2029 over a number of years afterward, we don't have that option.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Arthur Miller
“we recognize that the structure in Cook Inlet is changing and we are transitioning to an imported liquefied natural gas supply structure. It's not a question of do we want to import natural gas. We would much rather have in-state natural gas.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Mike Coy
“the Cook Inlet is an underexplored basin. We have conditions finally where, from an economic perspective, meaning the market price is sufficient enough that it should attract exploration dollars, and that has historically not been the case.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Arthur Miller
“we are making sure that we take that gas that we're banking and we can extend what, what it was about a year ago, our end of the, or our need for additional gas from the end of first quarter 2028 to the end of first quarter 2029.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Arthur Miller
“we're estimating, depending on which structure is put in place, anywhere between $29 an MCF to over $40, even up to $60, depending on the structure. So it is expensive.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Mike Coy
“extending and expanding royalty relief that would help incentivize explorers and developers. And then if we're talking about offshore, access to additional drilling capability meaning additional rig capability would be necessary. Right now, the only rig available is the Hillcorp Rig 151, the Spartan 151.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 1:00pm ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 10:00am ·
Megan Wallace
“And therefore, if the council approves this we will work with outside counsel for a brief to be prepared on behalf of the legislature and filed in the United States Supreme Court.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 10:00am ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 10:00am ·
Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 10:00am ·
Megan Wallace
“The United States Supreme Court granted cert, agreeing to take on this case this term. The case involves an Alaska Supreme Court decision holding that it was not unconstitutionally excessive punishment to confiscate the airplane of a pilot whose cargo for a flight to a dry village included alcohol. Central to the Alaska Supreme Court's decision was an emphasis on the legislature's responsibility in setting penalties and giving deference, uh, oh, and for courts to give deference to legislative determinations, um, so long as those penalties are not grossly disproportional.”Alaska Legislature: Special Coverage - September 10, 2026 10:00am ·
Tim Powers
“The legislature has already appropriated this money in the budget cycle this last year. We did use a sole source justification, Section 040 exemption for this procurement. KTO has unmatched infrastructure. They already possess the technological setup, the broadcast equipment, and the institutional knowledge and have a working agreement with the legislature that's spanned for over a decade already. It's impractical to put this out for competitive bid.”Alaska Legislature: Joint Legislative Council, 8/25/26, 11am ·
Tim Powers
“Transitioning to a new vendor would require costly duplication of infrastructure and risk disruptive delays to service that the public relies on. Because this contract value exceeds $50,000 in a single fiscal year, Council action is required to approve the contract.”Alaska Legislature: Joint Legislative Council, 8/25/26, 11am ·
Tim Powers
“KTOO, who has provided longstanding public service in broadcast of the legislature by means of gavel-to-gavel coverage of the House and Senate floor sessions and committee meetings. They are essential for transparency for the legislature, for the public in this state, and due to the loss of federal funding last year, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting cut, KTO approached the legislature to secure funding to provide this service continuing.”Alaska Legislature: Joint Legislative Council, 8/25/26, 11am ·
Alaska Legislature: Joint Legislative Council, 8/25/26, 11am ·