Alaska lawmakers fell one vote short Monday in an attempt to override the governor’s veto of a comprehensive school funding bill, which included a permanent increase in the state funding formula for K-12 education and which could have provided an additional $440,000 for the Wrangell School District.
The additional funds would have covered about two-thirds of the deficit in the Wrangell district’s draft budget, reducing the amount of money it will need to pull out of reserves for the 2024-2025 school year.
The vote in a joint session of the House and Senate was 39-20. A two-thirds majority of 40 votes of the 60 legislators was required for an override.
All 20 of the votes to uphold the governor’s actions came from Republicans. A dozen Republicans voted with Democrats and independents in the failed attempt.
Even if lawmakers had succeeded in overriding the veto, the governor still could have used his veto power to reduce or eliminate money from the state budget when it reaches his desk at the end of the legislative session. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy last week essentially threatened just such an outcome.
“You could override and have this bill, but it doesn’t guarantee money in the budget in the end,” Dunleavy said at a news conference last week.
Money to cover the state’s contribution to local school district operating budgets is subject to appropriation by the Legislature each year and a potential veto by the governor each year.
Lawmakers last year approved a one-time increase in state funding to school districts, which Dunleavy reduced by half with his veto pen. The Legislature is likely to try again for a one-year boost in school money, even with the defeat of the permanent increase in the formula in state law.
The Legislature faces a mid-May adjournment deadline.
In addition to objecting to the bill’s sizable, permanent boost in the funding formula, the governor had demanded that legislators also approve two of his education priorities to win his support for a funding increase.
Dunleavy wants legislation that would allow new charter schools to bypass local school boards and come to the state for approval, and he has campaigned for one-time teacher bonuses to recruit and retain staff rather than a permanent increase in state funding for districts.
Most lawmakers have been reluctant to accept the governor’s demands, responding that charter schools should be a local issue, and that a permanent increase in state aid for school operating budgets would help more than one-time teacher bonuses.
Neither of the governor’s proposals have won enough legislative votes for passage.
Lawmakers have been working since the start of the session in January to craft legislation to raise the state’s per-student funding formula, known as the base student allocation, which has not changed more than half a percent in seven years.
Though school districts and public education advocates across Alaska pushed for an increase to cover the years of inflation, the Legislature settled on about an 11% boost in the base formula, which would cost the state an estimated $176 million for the 2024-2025 school year. That represents about 2.5% of the state general fund budget.
The vetoed legislation also included a larger state contribution to districts for their school bus expenses ($7 million), additional funds to assist in reading improvement programs ($5 million), more money for correspondence programs used by homeschoolers ($13 million), a new charter school coordinator position at the Alaska Department of Education, and a provision to increase internet speeds in rural schools.
The legislation did not include Dunleavy’s proposal for teacher bonuses, nor did it go as far as the governor wants for new charter schools to bypass local school boards.
The bill passed the House and Senate in February by a combined 56-3 vote. Though education supporters expected to lose votes, they has hoped they could still muster 40 for the override on Monday.
The labor federation Alaska AFL-CIO and teachers union NEA Alaska asked supporters to send letters, calls and texts supporting an override. The Alaska Council of School Administrators ran internet ads targeting possible swing legislators.
The Alaska chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a limited-government group, had praised the veto and asked legislators to sustain it.
Both of Wrangell’s legislators — Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman and Ketchikan Rep. Dan Ortiz — voted to override the governor’s veto, as did all of the House and Senate members from Southeast.
The Wrangell School Board was scheduled to meet Monday evening, March 20, to consider its budget. The school district is required to submit its budget to the borough assembly by May 1. The assembly has until late June to adopt an overall budget and set the property tax rate.
Dozens of school advocates lined the hallways in the Capitol ahead of the Monday vote, wearing red to signify their support for schools and chanting “Override.
Nikiski Sen. Jesse Bjorkman said he expected schools on the Kenai Peninsula to lay off at least 60 teachers and cut back on programs if the veto were not overridden.
The Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Beacon contributed reporting for this story.
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