A closely watched bill that would boost state funding for public schools took a step forward on Wednesday.
With Rep. Maxine Dibert, D-Fairbanks, out battling an illness, the majority could not pass the bill out of the House Education Committee along caucus lines. So they took the unusual step of moving it to the Finance Committee with a floor vote instead.
House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, said it was necessary to keep the education bill on track to reach the governor’s desk in March so that school districts can plan their budgets for next school year.
"We had no other choice," he told reporters. "There is a sense of urgency out there. The clock is ticking for a lot of our school districts."
The bill would increase state education spending by more than $300 million next year in an effort to make up for years of inflation, backers say.
The vote to discharge the bill passed 21-18, including all of the Democrat-heavy majority caucus and conservative Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole. Approached by reporters, Prax said he “pressed the wrong button.”
Prax was one of a bevy of Republican House minority members who spoke out against moving the bill out of committee. Education Committee member Rep. Rebecca Schwanke, R-Tazlina, argued lawmakers needed more time to debate the bill and consider changes.
"If we have one more opportunity in our committee to actually take all of the questions, the thoughts, the ideas that came up in public testimony, and debate the bill as committee members, and take the vote, that actually allows us to complete the process," she said. "If we don't get that opportunity, I'm wondering what kind of tone that that sets."
Schwanke offered an amendment to the bill earlier this month that would have added performance incentives to the state’s public school funding formula. Majority members rejected the amendment but encouraged her to submit it as a separate piece of legislation.
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, an Education Committee co-chair who sponsored the funding bill, said the bill has faced plenty of scrutiny from lawmakers and the public over the past month. Hundreds of Alaskans have offered at times emotional testimony during public meetings and in letters, with a large majority supporting the bill, she said.
"We had gone through the full process. We had considered amendments, we had done everything in committee," she said shortly after the vote. "There wasn't going to be another opportunity to discuss in committee. We had already done all of that."
The bill is scheduled for its first hearing in the Finance Committee on Thursday. It’ll have to pass out of that committee before a final House debate and vote, at which point it would move to the Senate.
The House majority said in a news release Monday that Dibert was in the hospital with a "respiratory issue." Her chief of staff said Wednesday that Dibert’s condition is "improving every day" but said she did not have an estimate on when Dibert would return.
