There is no wisdom in the state House majority’s decision to put Permanent Fund dividends ahead of the public education budget.

Paying for larger PFDs before schools is not the way to build a better state, to keep families from leaving, to entice new residents and businesses to move here, to educate children. It does nothing to address the fact that more people have left Alaska than moved here in each of the past 10 years.

It’s as if the legislators want a new state motto: “Give me liberty, or give me death, but give me my dividend either way.”

House and Senate committees have been...