After a month and a half of deliberation and several failed attempts to bring an agreeable education bill proposal to the floor, House Legislators Thursday night overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan education bill that includes the largest increase to the base student allocation (BSA) in Alaska’s history.
The bill passed the House by a significant, 38-2 margin, with the only two “no” votes coming from House Republicans Mike Prax and David Eastman.
When the final vote came in lawmakers around the room stood to shake hands and many even embraced as a palpable sense of relief fell over the room.
The bill now moves on to the Senate, which is expected to concur with the House’s approval. Assuming the Senate does so, the bill would then shift to the desk of Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy for his consideration. The funding package includes an estimated $200 million or more in additional spending per year which includes additional funding for home-schooled students, as well as provisions intended to aid parents in navigating the charter school application process, additional support for pupil transportation, and the backing of the Alaska Reads program.
A statement from the House majority called all of these inclusions “major wins.”
Where the BSA is concerned, frustrations around the state had begun to mount after Gov. Dunleavy’s proposed budget included no increase in the amount allotted annually per student for Alaska school districts, and when this education bill initially came forward with only a $300 increase, significantly less than what many educators, lawmakers, and education supporters said was needed. When the dust settled, however, and Thursday night’s final vote came in, $680 was the number agreed upon.
The deal is far from done, however, as the all important sign-off from Gov. Dunleavy looms large (assuming concurrence from the Senate which is, again, expected). The governor has spoken passionately over the last months that he believes adding funds to the BSA is not the solution, suggesting the current district budget deficits are the result of mismanaged funds, and pushing for an increase to pay for teachers instead. Last year, Dunleavy vetoed half of the one time funding allotted for education after lawmakers believed the funds they’d passed were a “done deal.”
Whether or not the governor will accept the full $680 BSA increase, among the bill’s many other components, is yet to be seen, but for now the bipartisan passage in the house is a big win.