Alaska lawmakers are considering another boost to per-student funding for public schools. The co-chairs of the House Education Committee, Sitka independent Rep. Rebecca Himschoot and Juneau Democratic Rep. Andi Story, introduced a bill Wednesday that would boost the so-called base student allocation by $630 at an estimated cost of $159 million.
House Bill 347 comes after lawmakers boosted school funding by a slightly larger amount last year. But with school districts across the state projecting another round of deep cuts ahead, Himschoot said it’s clear last year’s increase wasn’t enough.
“Our goal with this bill is to not lose ground,” she said Wednesday. “We made up some ground last year. We know that some districts stand to lose a lot this year in cuts. Other districts have made painful cuts. Can we restore some of what they've lost?”
The Anchorage School District is planning to cut more than 300 teachers and close three schools to balance its budget this year. Students in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough staged a walkout on Tuesday to protest deep cuts, including three school closures.
But the bill faces a long road ahead. Last year’s increase required a bipartisan supermajority to overcome two vetoes from Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
Fairbanks Republican Rep. Frank Tomaszewski said he’d like to learn more about the bill — but at least so far, he said he hadn’t heard minority-caucus lawmakers clamoring to boost spending on schools.
“I haven't heard of a large appetite for increasing education funding this session,” he said. “I'm interested to see what that bill is going to look like and who is going to be in support of it.”
For now, lawmakers are reckoning with a deficit, though an updated revenue forecast due in mid-March could change the picture. Even so, majority-caucus leaders in the Senate and the House minority leader said Tuesday they were hesitant to increase state spending as oil prices spike due to the Iran war.
Himschoot said she’s well aware there’s no guarantee the bill moves forward this year.
She said it’s one of a number of other options to improve schools that lawmakers are still considering, including a bill that would change the state’s corporate income tax code to capture more revenue from Outside businesses that sell to Alaskans. Some of that money would be set aside for reading programs and career and technical education.
Another bill from fellow Education Committee co-chair Story aims to stabilize school district budgeting by changing the way the state and school districts count students.
“We're looking at an incredibly tight budget year, so it's important to be realistic,” Himschoot said. “But we also thought it was important to put an option out there that wasn't currently on the table.”
