A bit of last-minute pressure from the Senate Majority’s bipartisan membership saw a boost to education funding as the Senate wraps up its work on the state’s operating budget, as well as increases in several other key areas like child care and senior care.
The move came a few days after Senate leadership staked out a conservative position on the budget intended to completely avoid a deficit this year. That included shrinking both the size of the dividend from the $2,700 proposed in the House to about $1,300 and reducing the one-time increase to education funding from $680 per student to about $500.
The challenge with the House budget was apparent when it landed on the House floor, failing to reach the supermajority of votes needed to tap into the state’s savings to cover the roughly $600 million deficit. Because of some maneuvering in the House that means the House version of the budget technically includes no additional education funding.
Still, it sounds like the conservative budgeting didn’t sit particularly well with senators in the 17-member bipartisan Senate Majority and on Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee introduced a budget that upped the education funding to $680 per student, or about $174 million in total.
“Under further consideration within the Senate there was substantial support for the kids to increase that,” he said during Wednesday’s hearing.
The updated budget also puts $15 million toward grants aimed at increasing wages in the child care industry, which was the focus of much of the public testimony in both the House and Senate, and $30 million (half coming from federal funds) to increase Medicaid coverage of home-based care for seniors.
The size of the dividend, however, was left unchanged. The Senate figure of $1,300 is equivalent to 25% of the spendable earnings of the Alaska Permanent Fund, a figure that seems to have general support in the Senate. The House figure of $2,700 is equivalent to 50% of the spendable earnings.
You can find a full breakdown of the last-minute changes here, but here are some other key changes:
- $1 million for rural public radio
- $1 million for increased reentry housing
- Deletes $5 million for the wetlands permitting takeover
- $4 million for the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP)
- Deletes $209,000 for a new attorney specializing in “Parental Rights in Education”
Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, highlighted the additional funding for ANSEP, calling it a “game-changer” for bringing up young professionals.
According to an analysis by the Legislative Finance Division, the changes would still keep the state’s budget out of deficit spending but just barely. It currently stands at a surplus of just $93 million in a budget that’s north of $6.25 billion. It’s entirely possible that the cost of non-budgetary legislation, last-minute capital project increases, unexpected costs during the year (like forest fires) or lower-than-expected revenue could push the state into deficit territory.
What’s next: The operating budget will likely land on the Senate floor on Monday, giving them a couple of days to work through potential amendments, debate and reach a vote. Once that process is completed, it will send the budget to the conference committee process which will also trigger the 24-hour rule, allowing non-budget bills to advance more quickly through the legislative process.
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.
