Governor Bill Walker has seconded Erin Merryn’s call for sexual abuse prevention programs in Alaskan schools.
Merryn: “I wish we could rely on just adults to do the right thing and not have to put this responsibility on the kids to tell, tell, tell, but we can’t just put the responsibility on the adults. We need to empower kids. We need to give kids a voice on how to speak up and tell if this is going on.”
“Erin’s Law” is one of the three items the Governor mandated for the special legislative session which began this morning. He wrote, “This piece of legislation will help protect young Alaskans, and I want to make sure it is given adequate consideration. We can certainly add an opt-out provision for local school boards so it is not an unfunded mandate.”
There have been four versions of the bill in the Legislature. One passed the House but stalled in the Senate over concerns about requiring teachers with no psychological training to teach children the sensitive material with no additional funding.
The special session will also deal with the state budget and Medicaid expansion and reform.