With just a few hours left on the clock Thursday night, Gov. Mike Dunleavy made good on his threat to veto a widely supported education bill after legislators refused to deliver a second education bill loaded with his priorities.
The move creates an uncertain future for education funding in Alaska, which has not seen a meaningful increase in baseline funding levels in six years. Senate Bill 140 would have added $174 million to the $1.2 billion in annual school funding, new funding for young students who need help reading and increased funding for homeschooled students.
It would also have delivered time-critical funding for schools to access federal funding to upgrade internet speeds in remote schools.
The response from school districts that have been warning about budget shortfalls was swift. In a joint statement, Anchorage School Board President Margo Bellamy and Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said Thursday said the veto will force additional cuts.
“The veto could not come at a worse time, not only for the Anchorage School District but for all school districts across Alaska,” they wrote, noting that districts are in the final stages of approving their budgets. They wrote that the Anchorage budget “will be revised, and our community will be faced with additional reductions.”
Legislators have tentatively planned a joint session on Monday to consider overriding the governor’s veto, as is required under the Alaska Constitution. An override of a non-budget bill requires the support of 40 of the 60 legislators, which would be an easy bar to clear if all 56 members who voted for the bill voted to override it.
But that’s not a given.
Several Republican legislators see the governor’s veto as an opportunity to reopen negotiations on education policy, particularly around the governor’s priority of expanding charter schools over the objections, concerns and oversight of local communities. Some have already indicated that they will not override despite supporting the bill.
Before the veto on Thursday afternoon, House Speaker Cathy Tilton said she expected members to “vote their conscience” on the veto override. After the veto was delivered, she told the Anchorage Daily News that she expected some majority Republicans to vote in favor of the override.
The governor and some Republicans are seeking a change to allow the state Board of Education, wholly appointed by the governor and essentially an extension of his administration, to directly approve new charter schools. Those provisions were in an earlier version of Senate Bill 140 but were stripped out on the House floor.
“This bill also fails to enhance charter school opportunities in a meaningful way,” Dunleavy wrote in a letter announcing his veto. “Charter schools are an innovative and proven alternative to traditional education for many children. Education reform is more than funding.”
Questions about quality control, local input, funding obligations, equity of access and the impact on traditional neighborhood schools remain unanswered. Under the proposal, local districts would be forced to operate the new charters — something several administrators say costs them more than they receive to fund them, meaning the move would draw money away from other purposes.
“Every dollar you’re putting into charter schools is a dollar you’re taking out of neighborhood schools,” said Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat who has been a key negotiator for the Senate on the education bill.
Wielechowski and several other members of the Senate have called the removal of local control from the system a non-starter for them. Last week’s hearing highlighted the importance of charter programs’ connection to their local communities, with several warning that the governor’s changes would undermine what has made charter programs successful.
Commentary: There’s a good reason legislators didn’t rush to meet Gov. Dunleavy’s education demands
The governor has also demanded legislators approve a $180 million three-year study on teacher bonuses, arguing that targeted bonuses ranging between $5,000 and $15,000 are a more effective way to address recruitment and retention problems than a straightforward increase to school funding, higher wages or the restoration of a public pension system.
However, the Dunleavy administration has failed to provide concrete evidence supporting their plan. Legislators have pointed out that the $60 million annual cost of the study would likely come from the $174 million in annual funding they’ve approved.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, told the ADN on Thursday that the version of Senate Bill 140 that passed the Legislature last month was the compromise.
“I think we’ve gone about as far as we can,” he said, “And I don’t think there’s a willingness, at least in the Senate, to go any further.”
Even if the Legislature sends the governor legislation more to his liking, it won’t guarantee that the school funding increases are actually funded. Funding has to be provided through the budget, and the governor could reduce or eliminate any funding through a line-item veto. Line-item vetos are also nearly impossible to override, given that they require a whopping 45 of the 60 legislators to override.
This story has been updated with an accurate count of the votes to pass Senate Bill 140. It passed with 56 votes for it, 3 against it, and one legislator out on an excused absence.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.