Alaska’s public schools may see the largest permanent funding boost in well over a decade, after the Alaska Legislature voted for the first time since 2002 to override a sitting governor’s veto.
With a 46-14 vote, lawmakers significantly increased the state’s per-student funding formula, overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s decision to reject House Bill 57. Forty votes were needed for an override.
While the legislation changes state law on school funding, whether Alaska schools actually see an increase for the coming school year depends on the outcome of the budget process.
It was the third time in two years that Dunleavy vetoed a significant education funding bill; lawmakers failed by a single vote to override the governor last year. A second veto override vote earlier this year failed by a larger margin.
The override means a permanent increase of $700 in the base student allocation, the core of the state’s per-student funding formula.
The higher state funding rate would mean about $400,000 more for the Wrangell School District for the next school year — reducing the district’s need to wipe out its reserves but still requiring a draw from savings of several hundred thousand dollars to balance the spending plan for the schools.
But even with the change in the funding formula in statute, the governor could still reduce or eliminate the increase with his veto authority over the state budget.
In addition to changing the funding formula, the bill which becomes law over the governor’s objections, changes the charter school application process, directs school districts to develop policies to restrict students’ cellphone use, creates a grant program designed to improve students’ reading performance, and expands career and technical training programs.
It also sets up a legislative task force to recommend further changes to education policy.
The House and Senate are controlled by coalition majorities that include Republicans and Democrats, with the House majority also including independents. However, because overriding the governor required 40 votes, some conservative Republicans in the House and Senate minority caucuses needed to support an override for it to succeed.
House Minority Leader Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, said that while she supports the governor, she split with his position and voted to override the veto. “I’ve supported the governor in many, many ways. I voted for his bills and priorities — very much a fan of the governor,” she said. “We just had a difference of opinion on this one bill.”
Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, praised what she described as the courage of minority Republicans who acted against a governor whose actions they normally support.
“I think it represents a lot of courage on the part of all the legislators, recognizing the justice, the compassion that we need to show to the public,” she said. “They’ve asked for this education funding now for several years, and it’s time we act.”
During the override vote on May 20, Rep. Jeremy Bynum, R-Ketchikan and a member of the House minority, wore what he called his “hard vote” tie, decorated with small rhinoceroses. He voted to override.
“My vote isn’t against the governor, it’s for my district,” said Bynum, who also represents Wrangell and Metlakatla.
Dunleavy said he wanted additional policy changes in the bill, including open-enrollment provisions that would allow students to more easily transfer between schools and school districts.
Bynum said he believes that some of the policy priorities sought by the governor need more discussion.
“The problem that we have is that the policies that the governor was asking for us to include in this bill really requires some additional thought,” he said. “There’s some unintended consequences of that language that could harm some of the lottery schools and some of the charter schools even in Anchorage … and so, yeah, if we want local control, we need to support local control. I believe in local control.”
Reps. Jubilee Underwood, R-Wasilla; Elexie Moore, R-Wasilla; and Sarah Vance, R-Homer, voted in favor of HB 57 but against overriding the governor’s veto.
Vance explained her decision. “I made a decision a couple weeks ago not to override, seeing that the majority was not even considering giving the governor his policy requests.”
Vance said she is also focused on the state’s finances: “I’m also very, very concerned about our budget. We are in a deficit of $200 million, and that’s also the (education) increase right now. I want to fund inside the formula, but right now, I think we’re just in a bind on what we can do.”
The override vote may be the first chapter in a longer struggle between the governor and the Legislature.
HB 57 increases the state’s public school funding formula, but that formula is subject to the annual state budget. Dunleavy has previously said he may veto some education money from the state budget, leaving the formula only partially funded.
In addition, parts of HB 57 are contingent upon the enactment of Senate Bill 113, a bill to generate more state corporate income tax revenues. On May 19, Dunleavy implied that he will veto SB 113.
Overriding either a budget veto or a veto of SB 113 would require 45 votes; the state constitution sets a higher threshold to override bills that appropriate money, which a provision of SB 113 would effectively do.
Asked whether the 46-vote threshold would hold up in subsequent vetoes, the leaders of the House and Senate said they weren’t sure.
“We don’t know, but the vote today is going to influence the political dynamic around doing what’s right for our schools,” said House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, an independent from Dillingham.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, offered similar thoughts.
“I think there’s a good, solid message to the governor that we need to move ahead on education,” he said.
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