On a vote of 24-16, the Alaska House passed House Bill 69, boosting the per-student funding for the education establishment by $1,000, the largest increase to the base student allocation in Alaska history. There is no funding source but the low-hanging fruit of the people’s Permanent Fund dividends, or possible oil taxes that are being proposed by Democrats.
Voting in favor of the bill were all the Democrats and those who joined the Democrat-led majority: Robyn Burke, Ashley Carrick, Maxine Dibert, Bryce Edmon, Ted Eischeid, Zack Fields, Neal Foster, Alyse Galvin, Andrew Gray, Carolyn Hall, Sara Hannan, Ky Holland, Nellie Jimmie, Andy Josephson, Chuck Kopp, Donna Mears, Genevieve Mina, Cal Schrage, Andi Story and Louise Stutes.
Three members of the Republican minority voted for it: Rep. Justin Ruffridge of Soldotna, Rep. Julie Coulombe of south Anchorage and Jeremy Bynum of Ketchikan.
The bill introduces a permanent $1,000 increase to the Base Student Allocation (BSA), ensuring greater financial stability for school districts across the state. Alongside the funding increase, HB 69 implements targeted education reforms aimed at enhancing school choice, accountability, and operational efficiency.
“HB 69 is not just about funding—it’s about strengthening Alaska’s public education system for the long term,”said Speaker Bryce Edgmon. “This bill is the product of good-faith negotiations, reflecting input from legislators, the administration, and stakeholders across the state.”
Except there is no funding source, which calls into question the “good-faith” aspect mentioned by Edgmon.
Key Provisions of HB 69:
- Base Student Allocation Increase – Permanently raises the BSA by $1,000, providing a crucial financial boost to public schools.
- Open Enrollment Policy – Says it expands school choice but actually reduces choice. It actually dials back parental choice, by putting kids who live outside a district behind military kids and siblings of kids who are enrolled in a school. Destination school districts have subjective control over whether outside-district students can enroll.
- Charter School Burdens Increased – Increases administrative costs for charter schools from 4% to 8%, by allowing a district to double the amount of charter school budget they can retain for administrative overhead.
- Education Task Force – Establishes a legislative task force to assess school funding and policy improvements on an ongoing basis; task forces such as this always push for more funding. Adds to bureaucracy. The only members of the task force are the education committee members who are already responsible for this. The membership of the task force is tilted toward Democrat-led majority.
- Correspondence Study Program Oversight – Introduces annual reporting requirements on parents about enrollment, spending, and academic performance. It makes the parents file numerous reports with the state, which could drive people away from homeschooling.
- Wireless Device Policy – Requires school districts to implement policies regulating student cell phone use during school hours.
There is no funding support for this measure, which ties the hands of future legislatures. The estimated cost is an additional:
$326.3 million in fiscal year 2026,
$501.3 million in FY27,
$647.7 million in FY28.
The total cost is currently at $1.47 billion in additional funding over three years, on top of the existing BSA funding level of about $1.2 billion each year. These numbers are from the original bill, but have probably changed; there is no fiscal note with the current bill, so no way to know at this time what the cost is.
The amounts could change as the Senate considers the legislation, which has been fast-walked by the House.
Leftists. Spending money they do not have.
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Why is this news?
Very sad‼️
No real reforms…no accountability…just more money‼️
If they don’t put in what he asked for I think the Governor will veto it.
Is “Stakeholders” another word for “Unions”?
Elected idiots. We desperately need to rid ourselves of RCV and cheat by mail. I just cannot fathom their constituents are that dumb to elect these people.
Veto now
Plug the $3940 figure from 1999 into an inflation calculator. In today’s money that is over $7,600. This bill results in a figure far less than that.
The uni-party knew the money wasn’t there to support the teachers unions spending bill. They planned on stealing the money from the same stupid Alaskan’s that elected them. Next year they will give you half the normal PFD and the masses will be happy again. Soon the PFD will be zero and you will be paying a taxes, because of how you voted.