Tuesday, the Alaska House began its lengthy floor amendment process on the state’s operating budget, typically one of the mileposts of the legislative session, with education funding dominating much of the conversation.
While the Republican-led House narrowly rejected every attempt to increase the budget’s one-time funding for public schools, pro-school legislators managed to secure increased funding for young students who need help reading and funding to cover more than 1 million school meals for lower-income students.
As it stands, the budget contains a one-time boost to education funding equivalent to the $680 increase to the base student allocation in the education bill that Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy successfully vetoed last month. This number comes from last year’s legislative session, and many education advocates say it falls short of what’s needed to keep up with years of inflation on top of status-quo funding.
Several members of the bipartisan House Minority offered amendments that would have increased the boost by anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more than twice the $680 figure. After all the bigger-ticket increases were rejected, Sitka independent Rep. Rebecca Himschoot offered one that would have increased the one-time funding to an $800 BSA equivalent. She noted it was the level outlined in the House BSA bill from last year, calling it the blue light special in reference to short-term sales at Kmart.
“The reason I say that it’s nowhere near where it needs to be, but we’ve shown in this body that we’re not going to support what we need to do,” she said. “So, I’m asking us to support what we committed to doing last year.”
While many Republicans scoffed at the increases, claiming that the one-time boost of $680 per student is more than sufficient, others said Alaska is falling well short of its duty to maintain public schools. They pointed to overworked teachers, ballooning class sizes, reduced electives and substandard school facilities.
Anchorage independent Rep. Alyse Galvin said some teachers are simply choosing to walk away from the profession entirely, relaying the story of a teacher with more than 25 years of experience in teaching.
“This is her last year, not because she wants to stop teaching but she’s a kindergarten teacher with a class of 28 students without any support within the classroom, and many of them have behavioral issues, and she can no longer go home and explain to her husband where the bruises came from,” she said. “It’s gotten to that level. Is that a system of education?”
Rep. Himschoot’s amendment failed on a 19-21 vote, which was the closest of any of the school funding amendments.
Still, pro-school legislators saw two victories later Tuesday night.
On a 21-19 vote, the House approved an amendment by Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, that would provide about $9 million in additional funding for reading interventions for K-3 students in Alaska. The amendment is similar to a provision that was in the vetoed education bill and was approved with the support of Republican Reps. Jesse Sumner and Justin Ruffridge.
On a 39-1 vote, the House also approved an amendment by Rep. Jennie Armstrong, D-Anchorage, that would cover the cost of meals for students eligible for reduced lunches, making more than 1 million meals entirely free for the students. Armstrong said that she grew up receiving reduced lunches at schools and knows how important it can be.
“I’m someone who grew up in a public school and faced and saw how close you can be to things really going bad or being a catastrophe. If there’s one thing that we can do to make sure these kids, no matter what happens in their life and all the uncertainty, can get two meals a day, it’s going to go so far.”
That amendment came with a corresponding cut to the Department of Corrections that Rep. Armstrong said was chosen to minimize the impact of the cut.
The House is set to continue budget amendments today, with a vote expected later this week. The budget will then head to the Senate for consideration. Gov. Mike Dunleavy, as he has done with every budget, can reduce or eliminate any item via a line-item veto.
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.