By REP. KEVIN MCCABE
This year, the Legislature passed HB 57, which locked in the largest permanent Base Student Allocation (BSA) increase in Alaska’s history, adding $184 million a year to school district budgets. When the governor vetoed $200 of the $700 per-student increase from the budget, amounting to $50.6 million, the Legislature overrode him in special session. That means districts will now receive the full $184 million with no real guarantee of better results for Alaskan children.
Supporters of the override say the money was needed to avoid “starving” districts, to reward minor policy changes, and to provide stable funding. The truth is that Alaska’s education system is already among the most expensive in the nation and among the worst for results. More money without serious reform will only lock in failure.
Alaska spends over $18,000 per student yet ranks 51st out of 53 states and territories in academic performance. Parents are voting with their feet, pulling their children from neighborhood schools in favor of charter schools, homeschooling, or private education. And chronic absenteeism, especially in the bush schools, is rampant.
Since the foundation formula is tied to average daily membership, declining numbers should trigger reduced funding. Instead, the Legislature increased spending via a higher BSA for the same districts without requiring better test scores, higher graduation rates, or other performance measures.
As I have said before, “Alaska’s education cartel is counting kids for cash.” And with fewer kids, they need more cash per kid to retain jobs. And this “cash” is free to them; just get the NEA to trigger Alaskans via emotional, media-supported rhetoric, and voila, other people’s money appears.
Some point to policy changes tied to HB 57, such as class size caps or cellphone bans, as reform. However, these provisions in the final bill are weak, often optional, and do not address the root causes of enrollment loss. Parents are leaving because of poor curricula, a lack of accountability, and limited school choice.
Article VII, Section 1 of Alaska’s Constitution requires a public school system, but it does not mandate automatic funding increases. The 2011 Moore v. State ruling confirmed that a “meaningful educational opportunity” requires rational standards, effective assessments, and strong oversight alongside adequate funding. Judge Sharon Gleason said that funding alone does not meet the constitutional requirement.
True reform would include performance-based teacher pay, school choice through charter schools, vouchers, open enrollment, tribal compacting, and competition that encourages innovation. HB 57’s token changes do not come close to justifying a $184 million increase, and the education-industrial complex knows it. The NEA is already on record saying, “This is a step in the right direction….” Of course it is – it increases their revenue through increases in union dues. And come January they will be coming for MOAR!
The argument for “stable” funding also collapses under scrutiny. Proponents claim a permanent $700 BSA increase allows schools to plan and that one-time funding is a failed business model. Alaska’s revenue base depends heavily on oil, which is inherently volatile. Committing to permanent increases under those conditions is fiscally reckless. And the “one-time funding” comment is highly misleading. What they should reference is one-time “increases.” But using that as an excuse to accept a record-breaking perpetual increase, fails the smell test. It is an especially egregious justification when history shows the Legislature has always met legitimate education needs, even if only on a one-time basis such as the $322 million added by the 32nd Legislature.
The Moore decision did not give the Legislature a blank check to hand to school districts; it demanded results. When enrollment falls because of low birth rates, outmigration, or parents rejecting poor schools, districts must quickly adjust their budgets. The districts are not supposed to operate as jobs programs. A real business model ties investment to performance, not guaranteed cash flow. One-time funding allows the Legislature to check progress before committing to more spending. Permanent increases without accountability only support a system that is losing students because it is failing them.
Some Republican legislators explained their votes by saying district needs outweighed the discomfort of opposing a governor from their own party. In my opinion, that choice prioritized short-term political comfort over long-term principle and ignored the more than 80 years of combined education and school district management experience in the current administration. An article in the Alaska Beacon stated, “Public polling ahead of the vote showed only 35 percent of Republicans supported an override, compared to 65 percent of independents and 91 percent of Democrats.”
Siding with the education-industrial complex, which protects jobs and budgets before students, and it not accountable to the Legislature is a disservice to both families and children.
Alaska’s students deserve schools that earn parental trust. That means funding tied to results, expanding school choice, cutting administrative bloat, and putting more money into classrooms instead of bureaucracies. It means demanding accountability even when it is unpopular.
It is time to stop pretending that higher spending automatically means better education. The Legislature should find the courage to reform the system, hold districts accountable, and put students first.
Rep. Kevin J. McCabe represents House District 30 and is committed to fiscal responsibility and educational excellence.
Save the children and close schools.
Follow the money. This cash won’t benefit the students; instead, it will go to the unions, with increased members paying higher dues.
Don’t forget the administration.
Exactly how many Vice Principals does a school need anyway?
We don’t have a functional state or federal education system. Pathetic.
Education ought to be local. There ought to be no role for the feds or the state.
As it stands now it is a huge grift for low quality people to steal other peoples money and ready children’s minds for indoctrination.
Also the ghost FTEs that are never filled but left in case programs are cut so they don’t have to actually fire/let go any actual teachers. We did that in the State Government back in the day to justify our budget (aka the “vacancy factor”). Without accountabilty (better annual performance on standardized tests would be a start) school districts will continue to churn out students that need remedial classes after graduation.
Term limits in state senate and legislature is the only answer . If these goofballs we send to Juneau had a business rating or ever managed a balance sheet , they’d of been fired long ago . Like I’ve said several times , “ a politician and a prostitute in Alaska , are interchangeable “!
Follow the money!!! I’ve been saying this for 15 years.
Alaska’s educational crisis demands a complete dismantling of the rotting system! Public education administrators, teachers and the unions representing them have completely lost their way and no amount of additional funding will fix it.
There are 2 parts of the Education debate. Funding and performance! When you have the funding YOU CAN DEMAND performance. Otherwise the argument will be “we need funding “.
NOW: the funding is done!
Move on and legislate performance. Stop throwing rocks at yesterday and focus on the future!
Alaska’s schools will continue to struggle as long as the belief persists that simply increasing funding will solve the problem. I taught in the Anchorage School District for 15 years, and I can say with confidence that more money is not the answer—accountability is. Year after year, I saw educators focus more on the aesthetics of their classrooms than on the quality of instruction. There is virtually no accountability within Alaska’s education system; ineffective teachers often remain in their positions despite harming student learning. Until a genuine system of accountability is implemented, Alaska’s education outcomes will remain among the lowest in the nation, even with one of the highest per-student funding levels through the Base Student Allocation (BSA).
Great essay, Kevin, you nailed the problem: “Alaska spends over $18,000 per student yet ranks 51st out of 53 states and territories in academic performance.”
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Want to fix this problem, we got to figure out cause(s) of it so it stays fixed, mostly.
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Is the problem even fixable, might one option be letting the education industry collapse under its own weight?
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The education industry seems to be near the failure point of run-to-failure maintenance, meaning the whole thing’s so busted, rusted, neglected, that it’s unfixable, has to be replaced, but not by, or with, anyone who helped break it.
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You’re an airplane guy, Kevin, when’s it time to stop pouring money into your old, worn-out engine, and buy a new one?
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You’re no engine guy, but you see airplane drivers –not– having to pour big bucks into weekly engine overhauls, don’t you start thinking it’s time to bite the bullet, hire a real good engine guy to pull the old one, put in a new one …and test fly it? But, damn new engine prices these days, is it even worth the money? Want your next-of-kin to find out?
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How’s the education industry different? It’s worn-out, busted, has to be fixed everywhere you look, leaks money all over the place. Want our functionally illiterate children with no futures to find out why we didn’t replace it?
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If we were real good education guys, would we not have bitten the bullet, pulled this thing, put in a new one, test flew it ourselves?
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We’re not, so we won’t.
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But …why not bite the bullet, hire a team of real good education guys from a school that’s nationally recognized for education excellence, to come here, pull this broken-down thing, put in a new one, and test fly it?
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Oh, gee whiz, that’ll never work …remind again why, who might have to be shoved out of the way, voted out of office, and/or sent to jail, to make it work?
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What the hell do we have to lose, Kevin?