JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature voted Tuesday morning in a joint legislative session to override Governor Mike Dunleavy’s veto of House Bill 57, restoring the state’s largest permanent increase to public school funding in more than a decade.
The override passed with the required two-thirds majority in a rare joint session, signaling strong bipartisan support for the education package. The bill will increase the base student allocation—the core funding formula for public schools—by $680 per student, provide more funding for student transportation, and enact several education policy reforms.
The override comes just one day after Dunleavy vetoed the bill, citing a lack of “game-changing” policy changes and opposing the funding mechanism for a proposed reading grant program. He also expressed frustration over the exclusion of his priorities, including statewide open enrollment and expanded charter school authorizations.
But educators and local leaders warned the veto would have triggered immediate and irreversible consequences for school districts.
“We’re going to start issuing pink slips,” said NEA-Alaska President Tom Klaameyer before the vote. “Programs will be lost, and school closures will become irreversible. We can’t wait until next January. The destruction will have been done.”
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland added that the uncertainty had made it nearly impossible to plan for the upcoming school year.
“Where we are is just massive unpredictability,” Holland said. “If things go bad, we don’t even know where we’re going to go from there.”
Despite the override, the debate over education funding in Alaska isn’t over. The funding increase must still be included in the state’s operating budget, and Governor Dunleavy retains the authority to issue line-item vetoes, which could remove or reduce individual funding items. Overriding a line-item veto requires an even higher three-quarters majority vote of the Legislature.
On Tuesday morning, Gov. Dunleavy made a lengthy Facebook post addressing the override. In the post, the governor seems to suggest he will not accept the legislature’s decision, ending the post with a foreboding, “This veto override does not end the conversation. It raises the stakes.”
Lawmakers say they’ll remain vigilant to protect the funding in the final days of the session, which is scheduled to end by midnight Wednesday.
For now, supporters of the override are calling the vote a major win for students, teachers, and communities across Alaska.