Alaska Senate passes bill on historic education funding increase, governor says it ‘falls far short’

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) - A comprehensive education bill that would raise the base student funding amount for Alaska school districts was passed by the Senate Monday morning with an 18-1 vote.

The House came together to pass the bill on Thursday, sending it to the Senate, which also approved of it Monday. The bill will now heads to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s desk for approval.

Dunleavy posted on social media Monday expressing disapproval, saying the education bill “falls far short of improving outcomes” for students in Alaska.

The lone dissenter against the bill Monday was Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, who said he would of liked to of seen the teacher incentive provision from the House Rules version of the bill carried over into the amended version that passed the House and Senate.

“If we’re not going to guarantee that that money is going to be focused on the teachers and they’re gonna get no bonuses or retention in this case, and no guarantee that the school districts aren’t gonna gobble that money up and guarantee it goes to the teachers and the kids, well, then we’re kind of doing the same thing. We’re throwing another at this point about quarter of a billion dollars at the system, with no guarantee it’s going to go where we know it needs to go to make the difference,” Shower said.

Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, voted in favor of the bill, but said she would support the governor if he decides to veto the bill.

“Targeting money towards teachers does correlate with academic improvement, and so that’s where I feel the teacher bonus piece that is not in this would be important and if the governor, the ball is going to be in his court after this vote, If he decides to play hardball, Mr. President, I will be on his team.” Hughes said.

Senate president, Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said he saw the passage of the education bill as a positive sign for the legislature, but if the governor decides to veto the bill it could prove to be difficult.

“The governor can’t veto certain parts of this bill. He can’t veto this part and leave that part. Yeah, the whole bill. But then when it comes to appropriation, he can veto individual items in the appropriations bill. So I’m actually anxious to see what he does. You know, I think we did all this in goodwill in the best interests of our communities and our school districts, and now it’s in the governor’s court,” Stevens said.

The Senate president said the votes are likely there to override a veto, but with the internet funding deadline for schools coming up, a veto would put that funding at risk.

Some lawmakers have said the bill must take effect by Feb. 27 to avoid a year delay in the funding.

“Substantial money’s in there for the internet for rural Alaska and villages, in Alaska. If the Governor vetoes, that, I don’t think there is really time for us to go back. He’s got 15 days [veto]- so we’d miss that date to apply for those grant monies for the internet. So that concerns me, and it also concerns me that we’re sending mixed messages now to our school districts, our school boards and our and all of our teachers and administrators,” Steven said.

The governor has a press conference scheduled for Feb. 27th to discuss education legislation.

“Original story Feb. 22:

With a compromise bill including the largest education spending increase in state history passing 38-2 in the House Thursday, it also includes changes to the governor’s priorities.

“It was a compromise,” Senate Rules Chair Bill Wielechowski said on Thursday. “And I’m ready to move forward and take on the next topic. Because we got a lot of big topics we’ve got to discuss. And big issues we’ve got to deal with in the state.”

Most of the $246 million proposal would go toward funding a $175 million increase to the state’s per-student school funding formula, known as the Base Student Allocation, or BSA. It breaks down to a $680 per-student increase, more than doubling the $300 increase the Majority’s bill, that eventually failed, included.

While Gov. Mike Dunleavy, R-Alaska, has yet to comment, in January he told Alaska’s News Source he would veto any education bill that only addressed the BSA.

“So the way the question was once again presented was, ‘Will you veto a bill that’s just BSA only?’ and the answer was, ‘Yes.’ So it’s an educational reform package [that] is what we really want,” Dunleavy said on Jan 26.

Wielechowski said since the compromise produced an omnibus bill covering a wide range of topics, and not an appropriation bill, he said the governor would not just be able to veto the $680 BSA increase without vetoing the entire bill.

The governor’s spokesperson Jeff Turner responded Friday in a statement.

“As you know, the bill still must pass the Senate on a concurrence vote or go through the conference committee process,” Turner said. “When the bill passes the legislature and is transmitted to his office, he will review it and make his decision.”

As uncertainty ruled the past week, after two failed votes on the House Rules Committee’s education reform package Dunleavy referenced back in January, days of behind close door negotiations, which House Speaker Cathy Tilton described as ‘difficult conversations’ between the House Majority, House Minority and three members of Senate Bipartisan majority caucus, produced the compromise bill.

“Really is a historical night. We have flipped the script on a major omnibus bill by doing it early in session. And not under the pressure of adjournment,” Rep. Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, said.

Edgmon and two other Democrats, Nome Rep. Neal Foster and Bethel Rep. CJ McCormack, who also caucus with the Republican Majority, voted against the first two versions of the bill brought to the floor.

The rejection of the House Rules Committee’s bill meant having to start from the beginning Wednesday, as lawmakers attached a series of amendments to a Senate rural school internet bill, known as SB140.

The passage of the $40 million internet funding is crucial, since school districts rural lawmakers like Edgemon, Foster and McCormack represent, must apply for grants to increase download speeds by Feb. 28.

While the governor’s priorities, such as teacher bonuses and charter schools, are still included in the proposal, it changes the $5,000-$15,000 teacher bonus Dunleavy argued are needed for recruitment and retention, to now only include intent language to boost teacher pay and provide bonuses, but does not obligate the state to do that.

“And here we are full circle, again, very frustrating,” Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Wasilla, said as he called process lawmakers took to reach a compromise ‘flawed.’

“I think, to a certain extent, we have lost the ability to compromise,” McCabe added. “The original bill was a good compromise. This is not so good a compromise. Somewhere in the middle, I get that. We’re working. We’re trying to make it work. But I’d like to remind people, there were lots of deals made in the last 24 hours. And the only thing you have in this building is your word.”

House Minority Leader, Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, acknowledged the bill’s compromise did not mean the nearly $1,400 BSA some Minority members wanted.

“I’ll tell you that this bill does not have everything that I want,” Schrage said. “But it does do a lot of good. It provides schools necessary support. Does it make them whole? No. But does it provide essential support to help them keep going? Does it put some fuel in the tank? It absolutely does.”

The proposed BSA funding falls far short of the increase some education advocates have said is necessary to avoid increased class sizes and outright cuts to teacher jobs and school programs. That comes as the Anchorage School District talks about making cuts to the IGNITE gifted student program, and Juneau and Fairbanks Districts talk about closing schools.

House Rules Chair, Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, who helped author to re-write that failed, called the compromise bill an example of not getting everything you want. But said it gives school districts an opportunity to plan early.

“We heard about school closures. We heard about all the stuff that’s going on, pink slips, All of that. This bill is advancing this early., And once again, I’ll say it’s probably the first time in history that students have not been used at the end of the year as pawns in the game of finance,” Johnson said.

As the bill now heads to the Senate, Education Chair Loki Tobin, D-Anchorage, called the bill the the largest infusion of resources under the BSA.

“Is it going to solve all the problems? No. But is it an opportunity for us to take a pause and realize we have time now to really get additional resources into our schools to deal with deferred maintenance, with retaining our educators and making sure that our classroom teachers have all the resources they need to provide an excellent education for every student every day,” Tobin said.

The bill also includes $14.5 million for home-school students in state correspondence program, increasing per student transportation to school money, based on the district the student attends and an additional $10 million the state’s READS program, which aims for every Alaskan child to be reading proficient by the third grade.

Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, and Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole, were the only two House members to vote no against the bill.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include additional information.

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