The Alaska Legislature fell seven votes short Tuesday of overriding Governor Mike Dunleavy’s veto of House Bill 69, a measure that would have added $1,000 to the state’s Base Student Allocation (BSA) for public education.
In a joint session that lasted over an hour, lawmakers debated the bill’s merits and the state’s fiscal limits before voting 33–27 to override the veto, shy of the two-thirds threshold required by the Alaska Constitution.
“Funding public education is not a game,” said Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson. “We hear from constituents on this issue more than any other—and rightfully so. Alaskans care deeply about the quality of their children’s education.”
Supporters of the override argued the proposed increase was modest but vital, following more than a decade of flat funding that has left many schools facing closures, teacher layoffs, and ballooning class sizes. The bill passed the House and Senate earlier this session before the governor struck it down last week, citing a lack of accountability measures and concerns over a growing deficit.
Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, voiced frustration that the final bill stripped away many of the components that had helped build early consensus.
“Last year we created a bill that I did a lot of work on,” Ruffridge said Monday during an interview on KSRM’s Soundoff. “It involved a whole host of things—funding for education, changes to correspondence school funding, and provisions for how charter schools function. In my opinion, we should have at least started back there—at a place where we had 39 people willing to override the governor on that bill from the beginning.”
During the interview, Ruffridge said he would not vote in favor of an override. He did not speak during Tuesday’s floor debate after the Senate gutted many of those provisions from this session’s education bill.
Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, also of the Kenai Peninsula, offered an impassioned defense of the override, likening the situation to workers being sent to their jobs without the gear they need.
“Our schools are unable to meet their mission effectively because they don’t have the budget to deliver on the requirements that we expect of them,” Bjorkman said. “They don’t have the money to leave the store with a pair of steel-toe boots to go to work.”
Opponents of the override, including Sen. Lyman Hoffman and Sen. Bert Stedman, said the state simply cannot afford the additional spending without first identifying stable revenue sources. Alaska faces a projected $450 million budget deficit this year and over $150 million in the current fiscal year. Lawmakers expressed concern about tapping the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR), the state’s primary savings account.
“We cannot balance the budget,” said Stedman. “Let’s not set ourselves up where we have to cut the BSA for the first time in history. I want to be in a position to slowly, incrementally fund it.”
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, and Rep. Bill Elam, R-Kenai Peninsula, also voted against the override. Vance cited concerns about fiscal sustainability and the lack of educational reform language.
In the wake of the failed override, it remains unclear what education funding will look like when the legislature adjourns. Governor Dunleavy has promised to introduce a new package that includes targeted aid and policy changes, but no details have been released.
Meanwhile, districts across the state say they’re bracing for another year of painful cuts.
“Do our schools, do our teachers, do our support staff have the money to get the job done?” Bjorkman asked during the session. “Because they deserve it.”
Cover photo credit: Gavel Alaska