Robin Hood, Ms. Bukendorf isn't proposing that we cut teachers health or retirement benefits, she is saying that a huge percentage of our education budget is made up of things we can't cut (retirement & health benefits). Therefore, if we go Sen Giessel's route, we'd have to make deep/high impact cuts to things that actually impact classroom intruction. I'm also in Sen. Giessel's district, and I think that we should be considering new sustainable income before damaging our schools. Like Ms. Bukendorf, I favor a progressive income tax and a restructuring of the PFD or perhaps a sales tax. I don't like the idea of one group of Alaskans paying more (i.e. a particular industry) than another. However, the "how" we get more revenue isn't as important to me as doing something before we damage our community and blow through our 8 billion dollar constitutional budget reserve.