Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill Monday that would substantially boost long-term education funding. House Bill 57 would have increased the base of Alaska’s public school funding formula, the base student allocation, by $700, increased student transportation funding and made several policy reforms.
“There is no evidence that a permanent increase in the Base Student Allocation will improve educational outcomes,” Dunleavy wrote in his veto message to legislative leaders. “Therefore, this bill in its current form does not serve the best interest of Alaskans.”
Parents, school leaders, local elected officials and business leaders have long said that the state’s public school system is in crisis after years of flat long-term funding in the face of inflation.
Some legislators said Monday that they’re hopeful they can override Dunleavy’s veto. A vote is scheduled for Tuesday morning.
“Our schools need relief. They need it soon. Many of them are right on the cusp of, basically, insolvency,” House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, said.
In recent years, lawmakers have provided one-time funding boosts for schools but have failed to come to terms with Dunleavy on a long-term increase.
In an effort to find compromise, lawmakers included several reforms in the bill — a ban on student cellphone use, targets for the maximum number of students in each classroom, and a variety of reforms aimed at making it easier to create and maintain charter schools, a key priority for the governor.
“It's really a shame, because I think, in many ways, we gave the governor many wins on education,” Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said. “A lot of the things that he wanted are in there.”
But in the end, Dunleavy said it was not enough.
“We all agree that our schools need some funding. It did not contain the other half, as we say, of the coin,” Dunleavy said in a video posted to social media. “We worked hard on trying to get policies in there that we believe would help kids, would help families, and would help teachers.”
The veto was not unexpected. Earlier this month, Dunleavy told school superintendents he planned to veto the bill unless lawmakers passed additional bills with more of his priorities.
In the video, Dunleavy objected to a few omissions. He said he wanted lawmakers to implement a statewide open enrollment system, which would allow students living in one district to enroll in another.
Lawmakers said the system the governor envisioned would make it difficult for some families, especially military families who move to Alaska midyear, to enroll in the school closest to their home. The bill would have required a legislative task force to study the issue.
Dunleavy also said the bill didn’t do enough to improve student reading performance.
The bill lawmakers sent to Dunleavy sought to create a reading proficiency incentive grant program for school districts — for each student in grades K-6 who read at grade level or demonstrated improvement, districts would get $450.
But, with the state facing a budget crunch because of low oil prices, lawmakers sought to fund the grant program with an expansion of corporate income taxes aimed at capturing more revenue from out-of-state companies who do business in Alaska over the internet. Additional revenue from the tax bill was planned to bolster career and technical education.
But Dunleavy said he opposes new taxes without a comprehensive fiscal plan, which has eluded lawmakers for years. Dunleavy said lawmakers’ decision to tie the reading and tax proposals together was a sign legislators didn’t see the reading program as a priority.
“There was a game played with the tax, is what's happening here,” he said at a news conference.
Dunleavy also sought additional changes to charter school policies in an effort to improve student achievement, though lawmakers said Dunleavy’s proposals could intrude on the authority of local school boards.
“We couldn't get agreement on those policies. So in essence, in the end, this became a spending bill that we believe we could have done a lot better with,” Dunleavy said.
But underfunding schools has its own consequences, said Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage and the House majority leader.
“Starving our schools also will not produce increased educational outcomes,” he said.
It’s the second year in a row Dunleavy has vetoed a compromise package aimed at boosting funding for public schools. Last year, lawmakers fell one vote short of overriding his veto.
Dunleavy also vetoed a larger standalone funding boost earlier this year that did not include policy reforms. Lawmakers failed to override him by a wide margin.
An override vote on the newly vetoed bill is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, and lawmakers have said they’re optimistic it could garner the two-thirds majority necessary. Thirteen minority Republicans joined the bipartisan majority caucuses to approve the bill by a combined vote of 48-11, and five would need to favor an override for it to succeed.
It’s unclear whether lawmakers have the votes. But Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, said he planned to vote to override Dunleavy.
“I think people have been hearing from their constituents over and over and over again that education funding and outcomes are important to them. It's their No. 1 priority. It's why many of us are here,” he said.
But in a reversal, Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, said she would vote to sustain the veto. Shortly after the bill passed, Vance said she was willing to override the governor, but she said Monday she had reconsidered.
“I changed my mind,” she said, because “the majority was absolutely unwilling to give him a couple of more of his policy asks.”
But even if an override succeeds, Dunleavy could still veto education funding from the state budget, which would require a three-quarters majority to reverse.
Lawmakers must adjourn their regular session by midnight Wednesday, though legislators say they’re optimistic they may finish their work Tuesday night.
