After a day of public testimony, the House Rules Committee passed a major re-write of SB 140 to address education funding, including a $300 per student increase to the funding formula for school districts. It’s up to districts how they spend that money; it does not necessarily go to classrooms.
Other components include teacher incentives, transportation, assistance for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, high-speed internet for rural schools, and support for charter and correspondence schools.
It’s highly unusual for the House Rules Committee to hold hearings, much less ones that last for five hours and ends up with major changes to bills. The Rules Committee is usually more of a gatekeeping committee before a bill hits the House floor.
The next stop for SB 140 is the House Chamber on Monday, where there is a fragile Republican-led majority and a testy Democrat minority. The changes to SB 140 are extensive enough that, if it passes, it will have to be negotiated with the Senate.
The $300 increase to the Base Student Allocation would be the largest increase in over a decade. The funding formula has been held at bay by the governor since he took office while the state has struggled with flat revenues. Education union officials say $300 is not nearly enough but education inflation is outstripping other forms of inflation throughout the economy, while Alaska’s education outcomes are some of the worst in the nation. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has had other funding for schools in his budget, but not just a guaranteed increase to the formula that comes without any accountability from school districts.
The $300-per-student increase represents $77 million for one year.
Rep. Craig Johnson, (R-Anchorage), chair of Rules, said, “It was critical for the Alaska House Majority to propose a comprehensive package of measures to improve Alaska’s schools and support our students. One-time funding is a band-aid, at best. Our vote today represents a long-term investment in education.”
The bill also provides support for deaf and hard of hearing students throughout the state, which was originally sponsored by Rep. Jamie Allard (R-Eagle River).
“Previous majorities have talked extensively about supporting education, but the current majority has finally delivered. I’m proud to be a part of this historic effort,” Allard said.
House Speaker Cathy Tilton (R-Wasilla), a member of the Rules Committee said, “The new version is our caucus’ affirmation of our constitutional obligations to provide quality education for all Alaska’s children. We look forward to a spirited and productive discussion with our colleagues in the State Senate as the bill moves forward.”
The vote came after the joint House and Senate failed to override the governor’s partial veto of additional funding for education passed by the Legislature last year.
