The Alaska Legislature, in a joint session on Monday voted 39-20, but it was one vote short of what was needed to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of an education bill, Senate Bill 140, that started out as an internet bill for rural Alaska, but turned into the dream of the National Education Association Alaska — another quarter million dollars for school districts without any strings attached.
Gov. Dunleavy issued a statement within minutes: “I want to thank the legislature for their hard work and commitment to implementing new education reforms that put Alaska families first. Let it be clear to school boards and associations: education funding will be prioritized and available – I support solutions that move us forward.”
The vote came after about two hours of legislators from both sides of the aisle talking about the shortcomings of Alaska school districts, as well as the need for funding, and how that funding gets distributed. It turns out, a $680-per-student increase is not distributed equally through all districts. North Slope gets more, while Southeast Alaska rural districts get less.
The education industry and unions fought hard for the funding bill, and has been swarming the Alaska Capitol since the beginning of session, putting pressure on legislators, who were flooded with requests to increase funding for schools as part of a formula called the base student allocation, which is the floor for funding of public education.
In fact, the hallway leading up to the House Chambers was lined with both adults and children being used as props by the education lobby, as human sentinels watching legislators filed in to deliberate and vote.
Several legislators rose to speak for and against the veto override.
Rep. Tom McKay, a Republican of Anchorage, was the first, reminding everyone that he had already introduced an alternative to Senate Bill 140 — House Bill 392 — which would also increase the base student allocation by $680, as SB 140 would have, but would restore some of the items the governor wants, such as support for charter schools. While public schools in Alaska are at the bottom nationwide for student achievement, Alaska charter schools are at the top, he added.
Rep. Dan Saddler, another Republican, went next, and also reminded people that even if there was an override, the governor could still veto the $680 after the session ends, when he is handed the final proposed budget. He still has a line-item veto.
“It might appear that voting yes, that it guarantees it,” he said. “But that’s not accurate. It’s not that simple.”
Sen. Lyman Hoffman, whose family stands to gain financially from the original broadband section of the bill that would enrich his Bethel Native Corporation when it gets the multi-million-dollar contract to expand broadband for his district, rose to support overriding the governor; he is a paid officer of Bethel Native Corporation and has a conflict of interest, which he did not declare.
Sen. Mike Shower of Wasilla pointed out that Alaska would be spending millions of dollars to lay cable when satellite internet has made it all but obsolete in rural Alaska. He also pointed out that the $680 BSA increase would likely never be seen by teachers and that the governor’s incentive pay for teachers, which would go directly to them, had already been stripped out of the bill at the request of the education industry union lobbyists.
Sen. Rob Myer pointed out that 25 years ago, when he was in school, the Alaska schools were about in the middle of the pack, and that with the funding formula put in place, the quality of schools has just gone downhill and is now at the bottom of the barrel nationally.
Myer said that truancy and absenteeism is a huge problem in Alaska, and is one reason students are doing so poorly. “I don’t know how more money is going to address absenteeism,” he said. He said Alaska needs to put money in places that are succeeding, he said. But unfortunately those pieces got stripped out of this bill and it’s not where it needs to be, he said.
“I want to continue the conversation to talk about outcomes, if we’re not talking about outcomes for our kids then this conversation is meaningless,” Myer said.
Rep. Ben Carpenter said that districts losing out on funding is a red herring. “This is not an appropriations issue. This is a policy bill. This says we favor spending more money as a solution to our problems.”
He reiterated that SB 140 was a policy bill originally to address internet in rural schools and that “it got co-opted with a BSA increase,” he said.
Sen. Shelley Hughes of Mat-Su gave passionate closing remarks, saying education is her highest priority, but “I am no to prioritizing a system, over kids and teachers. My no vote is to go back to the drawing board.”
She added, “I encourage reporters to report that we all care about our kids.”
