Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed House Bill 174, a measure passed by the Alaska Legislature that aimed to expand access to construction and maintenance funding for Mt. Edgecumbe High School and rural teacher housing across the state.
The bill comes at a time when state fiscal resources are scarce. HB 174 sought to broaden the scope of the Regional Education Attendance Area and Small Municipal School District School Fund (REAA Fund), which was originally established to support rural school construction and later expanded to include major maintenance. HB 174 would have made two major changes:
- Inclusion of Mt. Edgecumbe High School as an eligible recipient for construction and maintenance grants from the REAA Fund.
- Expansion of funding eligibility to include state-owned rural teacher housing, allowing maintenance grants to support residential facilities for educators in underserved school districts.
In his veto statement, Dunleavy said the bill fundamentally altered the purpose and structure of the REAA Fund. “HB 174 would transform the REAA Fund … by adding Mt. Edgecumbe High School, and for the first time teacher-housing maintenance, a cost traditionally paid by local communities,” he wrote.
He added that the bill “diminished the equity across school districts that is provided by the Fund and commits the state to a local housing obligation, diverting already scarce dollars away from the critical classroom repairs and complicating grant rankings.”
The measure also removed the REAA Fund’s $70 million statutory cap, allowing unrestricted general funds to accumulate in the account without deadlines for project implementation. That change, according to the governor, could lead to delayed spending and create long-term financial commitments for the state.
In addition to the fiscal policy concerns, the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) estimated the bill would require over $300,000 annually in new costs. The expansion of eligible projects would necessitate two new state positions — a school finance specialist and a building management specialist — and annual travel throughout the state for technical support.
Dunleavy’s veto is part of his administration’s resistance to expanding the state’s role in what he views as local responsibilities, especially amid broader concerns about Alaska’s fiscal sustainability.
Go Governor! With the last two years of increases it is time to hold rural districts accountable for money they are given. I lived many years in rural/bush AK and assure you maintenance is not taken care of and expectation is that everyone else in AK pays for it….many of the districts are not boroughs so have no tax base and pay nothing for their schools. Time to stop it!! No excuses.
The same Judy who opposed Albert Fogle for assembly who is a strong conservative for my south Anchorage district who was running against LaFrance? Judy’s husband now serves shoulder to shoulder with Albert on the AIDEA board of directors. I will leave it up to Judy to explain her opposition to Fogle for assembly. As a former member of the Anchorage Republican Women’s club I have always found Judy a bully and her comments off pudding in regards to Alaska Native people, Alaska Native students and Alaska Native communities. Perplexed as to why the Alaska GOP continues to put up with it.
Deborah, how exactly is your comment germane to the topic?
How do you know that this particular writer is YOUR “judy” ?
Do you believe there has only been one person named “judy” ever teaching in the bush?
The above writer is entitled to her opinion, just as you are. If you disagree, post a rebuttal (and not a personal diatribe dragging up ancient history).
If you have a personal issue with a certain “judy” I recommend you contact her directly as THIS SITE is not the venue for personal vendettas.
I taught at a school in rural Alaska. The only problem with the “old” school building was that some students were breaking the windows and peeing on the carpets. The solution to these two problems turned out to be the construction of a new school building at state expense.
” maintenance is not taken care of”. Maintenance takes money judy.
What Judy means is that they don’t take care of what they have. Go out into the Bush/villages and you shall see for yourself.
The state is the landlord of the school. It’s the state’s responsibility.
I wonder what my employer will say when I say, I need to re-shingle my roof. Where would he like me to send the bill?
They don’t do preventative maintenance themselves and wait for the state to fix it. They have to at least show that they are trying to maintain. They just abuse it and wait for the taxpayers in other districts to cover. Mat-Su pays for their own maintenance in their budgets. Rural schools should too.
Born AK ……true. I lived in the Bush as a school teacher for a few years. They don’t take care of what they own. Even snowmobiles and four-wheelers. Run them into the ground and then wait for a new one rather than fix the old. This is what socialism teaches. If you didn’t pay for it out of hard wages, why would you have pride of ownership? Go to the villages and see how often they clean up their own yards of debris and junk. Very telling.
Are you suggesting rural schools start paying something Manny? 70 percent of MAT SU borough budget is taken by the schools. That’s a big chunk of property owners tax bill.
“maintenance is not taken care of”. Maintenance takes money judy.”
I am glad you figured that out!
The question you so studiously ignore however, is WHERE that money for maintenance comes from. Most incorporated areas in Alaska like Anchorage, Mat-Su, Fairbanks and cities in southeast pay property taxes (here in Anchorage the largest chunk of change goes to the ASD. Their total budget is bigger than the entire Municipality’s). Unincorporated areas do not raise their own taxes and ALL expenses are paid by the state.
See the difference?
I get that most areas do not have a large tax base but it doesn’t seem fair. Why not ask all Alaskans to contribute to their schools upkeep. Maybe not only monetary, but with skilled community members fixing broken items, maintaining systems and chipping in to buy materials for a new roof, gym floor etc and providing the labor, instead of sticking it to the state to build a new building.
Pure socialism in the Bush. They want to live traditional lifestyles, with all of the niceties of the 21st Century, at the expense of everyone in Alaska who doesn’t live in the Bush. Governor Dunleavy put his foot down to this. Thank you, Governor.
I recall one year when a rural school district appeared before the Board and asked for approval to exceed carry-over of prior year funds in order to accomplish “deferred maintenance.” Turns out the district had cooked the books and prepaid a bunch of expenses already – at least on paper – and had busied a district maintenance worker with repairing the personal snow machines of the superintendent and several teachers. Thank you, Governor, for some needed tough love. Not all rural districts practice such shenanigans, but enough do so that it would be a mistake to provide this workaround. And whatever happened to “no dedicated funds?”
Mt. Edgecombe School is not rural.
When everything is viewed through the warped lens of Anchorage, I suppose it is to them.
Here is SE that area is kinda uptown (relatively speaking)
Mixed feelings. The actual bush needs people willing to teach there.
If the locals took it seriously and if they were actually teaching something.
Always amazed me that locals don’t want these jobs- good pay, inside in winter, off during summer, good benefits. So they hire rookies from the Lower 48, or (in one case I know of) Filipinos. Locals could get scholarships at UAA or UAF- a full ride leading to a good career. This has been the case for 50 years- where are the locals?
A two hour tour of each state paid for facility in each community will change everyone’s opinion of which direction the state funding should go in that area.
The residential accountability for the intentional destruction of public property is more than a rationally sane person can handle.
Individual communities need to be held accountable for the abuse that goes unpunished.
Witnessing the waste and willful destruction should be mandatory before each cycle of funding is approved.
Those that take pride in their facilities should benefit and those that look the other way and wait for a “new” facility or state funding for the damage should be on their own and go back to their old way of educating those that want to educate their youth properly.
Performing upkeep on the facilities. You already have a brand new shiny school!!!” All with bond money!!, so it’s FREE!!!!” Like ASD. So what if it will be trashed in a,few years, because we won’t do upkeep on it, we need MORE consultants for DEI , SEL and all those things that line our friends’ pockets, that boring things like taking care of existing plant doesn’t provide any needs to employ those dirty, grubby trades people who fix things? We need ever more guys in suits with clean hands. That’s the way to go!!