The Alaska Senate Finance Committee dropped the accountability requirements out of an education funding bill and left it with just one simple thing: a $1,000 increase to the Base Student Allocation, the state’s funding formula for schools. The rate would go from $5,960 to $6,950 and is expected to pass the Senate as early as Friday.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy says he will veto the bill, which is now a committee substitute version of House Bill 69.
“The Senate’s new education bill is a joke! It does absolutely nothing to improve educational achievement,” Dunleavy wrote on X. “It does absolutely nothing to support our high-performing charter schools and our popular home schools. This is an obvious attempt to strong arm members of the legislature. This is an NEA teacher union dream! Hundreds of millions of dollars of new spending and no accountability called for. Welcome to Alaska: 51st in the nation in educational outcomes. In what world does one write a blank check with no expectations? Unless it is amended to address needed policies, if this lands on my desk, it’ll be vetoed immediately.”
It appears unlikely that the Senate, with so many Democrats and Democrat-voting Republicans, will add back in the provisions the governor wants, and in any case, with oil now in the mid-$60 per barrel, there is even less money than their was at the beginning of the session.
The cost for the $1,000 per student would be around $250 million a year, which would probably come from Alaskans’ Permanent Fund dividends and/or the Constitutional Budget Reserve.
The education spending bill passed the House on a vote of 24 to 16. To override the governor’s veto would take 40 votes from the House and the Senate.
The bill will be debated, possibly amended, and voted on during Friday’s Senate floor session.
Sen. Mike Shower, who serves as Senate Republican Minority Leader, said, ““Why are we doing this if we know it’s going to fail? We’re going to be right back where we started.”
Why do our legislators continue to spend money without any accountability? STOP! Stay within your budget. NEA needs to be disbanded. Our students are not getting any better. Throwing money at this problem is so shameful! Republicans or those that claim to be, get out or change your party. You lie!
VETO!!! Bring Canada in as the 51st st State and Alaska will still and continue to be at the bottom of the barrel with academics.
Until the legislature understands the failure is with unskilled reading instruction by educators raised on the very same failing curriculum of “Whole Language” and ignorant of the power of Phonics, there will be no improvements period. So-Governor- there is no loss for vetoing this bill.
It is what it is- a gift to the union, not to the students.
Cheers.
Al Johnson-Ketchikan
“Why are we doing this if we know it’s going to fail? We’re going to be right back where we started.” Sen. Mike Shower. Performative art by lefties? Once again the majorities run by Democrats with a small handful of turncoat Republicans have failed the people of this state. With an unfunded budget that can’t even make it to the floor of the House, the statutory time limit is already off the table and the 121 constitutional limit is quickly approaching, then special sessions will be next. These people campaigned for these positions, they asked for your votes, they said they wanted to do the job. Now they complain they have to do the job they asked to do. When will Alaskan voters learn?
Was this bill sponsored by Yundt?
Who were the 3 repubs in the house who voted for this?
There were 5 of them: Bynum, Coulombe, Kopp, Ruffridge & Stutes. Vote on HB 69 was taken 3/11. Cheers –
Power and control. They could truly care less about learning. Shameful.
The 3 Republicans in the House Minority who voted for this are Representatives Coulombe of Anchorage, Ruffridge of the Kenai, and Bynum of Ketchikan.
Sponsors
REPRESENTATIVES HIMSCHOOT, Dibert, Josephson, Holland, Galvin, Mina, Fields, Carrick, Story, Hannan, Schrage, Eischeid, Hall, Burke, Gray, Edgmon, Mears, Stutes, Foster, Kopp
SENATORS Tobin, Giessel, Gray-Jackson, Kiehl, Claman, Kawasaki, Dunbar, Wielechowski
Source: ‘https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/34?Root=HB%20%2069#tab5_4
Only in Alaska can educational incompetence be rewarded so profitably.
Sometimes I actually wish the legislature would just seize the PF corpus and restart income tax and just get it over with. This boiling is like a frog is old
Mike, isn’t the real PLAN stay in Juneau as long as possible on the public’s PFD’s? Shame on all you Legislators! This HB 69 is a clear example of FRAUD , WASTE & ABUSE! Where is Elon when you need him?
This legislature ( and sadly, most of our past legislatures ), is the reason Alaska cannot have nice things!