In an "oversight," Alaska's Future says they added DCSD to their members list after an unnamed person turned in a sign-up slip at an advocacy event.
Dillingham City School District was briefly listed as a member of Alaska’s Future, a coalition supporting the use of Permanent Fund earnings to reduce the state’s budget deficit. The school board says that came as a surprise to them.
The appearance of Dillingham City School District on the advocacy group’s website stirred some concern among community members last week.
School board president Chris Napoli says the school board did not request that listing nor did they approve such an endorsement. DCSD has since been taken off the website at the request of the district.
Alaska’s Future calls it a simple oversight. A spokesperson told KDLG News that someone submitted a sign-up slip with the district’s name on it, likely at one of the coalition's outreach events. Once the group was notified that that person was not, in fact, authorized to sign up on behalf of the district, they say they quickly pulled DCSD from the website.
The Alaska’s Future website has a similar "permission slip" functionwhere anyone can enter their organization’s name and contact information and check a box allowing that name to be listed on the website.
Alaska’s Future is a non-profit corporation led by co-chairs including GCI President Ron Duncan and Alaska union leader Vince Beltrami.
The organization’s mission is to drum up support for the legislature to use a portion of Permanent Fund earnings to close the budget gap. The Alaska Dispatch News reports Alaska's Future has hired a pair of lobbyists in Juneau, and recently launched a round of statewide TV ads.
According to Alaska's Future, the organization has more than 150 businesses and organizations have signed on as members.