Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday vetoed more than $87 million in one-time funding approved by the Alaska Legislature for public K-12 schools that educators said was critical for contending with rising costs amid years of flat education spending by the state.
The Legislature last month passed a budget that included a one-time $175 million increase to public education funding. In a press release announcing the veto, Dunleavy did not provide an explanation for cutting half that amount. Since the beginning of the legislative session, the governor had signaled his support for increasing education funding but declined to say what size increase he would support.
Alaska has a high bar for overcoming a governor’s veto: Lawmakers can reinstate the funding only through a three-quarters vote in both the House and Senate, a number they are unlikely to reach before the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.
While many lawmakers acknowledged during the legislative session that ended last month the importance of increasing education funding, several conservative Republicans in the House blocked a permanent funding boost, saying the state should reconsider how it allocates funds to schools. Several Republicans said they favored a retooled formula that would allocate more funding to home-schooled students.
Dunleavy also vetoed numerous other budget items, including more than $35 million in university capital projects across the campuses in Anchorage, Fairbanks in Juneau. Additionally, the vetoes include $1 million for rural public radio funding, $2.5 million for tourism marketing, $3.5 million in Head Start funding, and more than $10 million for maintenance of K-12 school buildings.
In an unusual move, Dunleavy announced the vetoes through a press release, without taking questions from reporters, as is typical. Dunleavy spokesperson Shannon Mason said the governor was unavailable for an interview Monday.
Dunleavy has not held a news conference in nearly two months, since April 27, when he spoke in Juneau about the need for a long-term fiscal plan to address the state’s structural deficit. At that news conference, Dunleavy committed to introducing a sales tax proposal — which he has yet to unveil.
The governor’s office has declined or ignored multiple interview requests in recent weeks, including most recently on Wednesday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
