The educational system? Not so much...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/06/mike-dunleavy-alaska-university-system-budget-cuts

'In a shocking example of political overreach, [Governor] Dunleavy announced 182 line-item vetoes to his state’s 2020 budget last week. He thereby cut the budget proposed by the Alaska legislature by almost $410m in general funds. Almost one-third of the cuts will come from the University of Alaska system, which will see its budget cut by $130m – a staggering 41%.

In a shocked response, the University of Alaska system’s president, James R Johnsen, said Dunleavy’s veto “will strike an institutional and reputational blow from which we may likely never recover”. Scott Downing, faculty senate leader at the University of Alaska Anchorage, told the Washington Post: “It’s going to be devastating. The effects on programs, on the students, on staff and faculty are just going to be – it’s kind of unthinkable.”

Dunleavy has defended his draconian budget cuts as a “policy choice” to increase the Permanent Fund dividend Alaskans receive each year – a major election promise he made during his campaign. While this might be good news for drug dealers – research shows a 14% increase in substance-abuse incidents the day after the annual payout – there is little evidence that the dividends actually boost the state economy. But the University of Alaska system does. Economists have shown that investing in universities boosts the economy of countries and states. They found direct and indirect effects of higher education spending that led to a significant increase in GDP across time and space. From Ohio to West Virginia, public universities have added billions to the state economies. Alaska is no exception. As my colleague Marshall Shepherd noted, the University of Alaska system provided $714m (directly) and $402m (indirectly) to the statewide economy in 2012 alone.'

Not so surprising these days to see Republicans attacking education - they seem to sense, vaguely, that educated people are less likely to be Republicans or vote for a Donald Trump - but to tear down the state budget just to hand out welfare payments from oil? That seems a bit wacky even by Republican standards.

If those even EXIST anymore...