Alaska lawmakers on Tuesday voted to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a high-profile education bill that will increase long-term funding for public schools. A joint session of the Alaska Legislature voted 46-14 in support of House Bill 57 a day after Dunleavy announced he had vetoed the bill, lawmakers’ top priority for this session.
It’s the third time in two years that lawmakers have passed a bill increasing the base student allocation, but until Tuesday, they failed to overcome vetoes from Dunleavy.
“I think people had the humility to listen to the public who have been crying for additional education funding now for several years,” Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, said. “They had the humility to listen today and the courage to do the right thing.”
The bill increases basic per-student state funding for public schools, the so-called base student allocation, by $700. It’s a key part of the formula that determines state funding for school districts, and increasing the figure was a central issue in lawmakers’ election campaigns last fall.
“It was the No. 1 issue in House District 22,” said Rep. Ted Eischeid, D-Anchorage, who was elected to the Legislature in November.
It’s the first substantial increase to the education funding formula since 2017. It’s also the first time the Alaska Legislature has overridden a governor’s veto since 2009.
The bill also includes a number of education policy reforms, including limits on student cellphone use, changes to state laws surrounding charter schools and a grant program that would offer performance incentives to school districts based on student reading proficiency. The bill also creates a task force to study additional reforms, including an open enrollment system that would allow students to attend schools outside of their home districts.
The vote was bipartisan, including every member of the Democrat-heavy coalitions controlling the House and Senate and 11 minority Republicans. House Minority Leader Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, who supported the override, said the bill represented a compromise.
“I think everyone worked really hard on getting something that we could all support,” Costello said. “For me, it was just a difference of opinion with the governor.”
Three House Republicans who initially supported the bill — Reps. Elexie Moore, R-Wasilla, Jubilee Underwood, R-Wasilla and Sarah Vance, R-Homer — voted against the override. Vance said Monday that she changed her mind because majority lawmakers refused to engage with the governor’s requests for additional reforms after the bill passed.
The bill increases long-term state education spending by roughly $185 million per year, including the base funding increase and an additional 10% increase in student transportation funding. As the state faces a budget crunch due to declining oil prices, it’s by far the largest spending increase approved by the Legislature this year.
In an effort to keep costs down, lawmakers funded the reading incentive program by linking it to the passage of a separate bill that would require large out-of-state businesses like Netflix and Amazon to pay corporate income taxes on the money they bring in from Alaskans.
The architect of that element of the compromise, Sen. Rob Yundt, R-Wasilla, took issue with Dunleavy’s suggestion on Monday that the decision to fund the reading program with the tax bill meant lawmakers had negotiated with his office in bad faith.
“There were no games being played there,” Yundt said. “That was just doing everything possible to try to prioritize the governor's reading grants out of respect for him.”
But Dunleavy said the bill’s reforms didn’t go far enough.
“Let me be clear: I support investing in public education,” Dunleavy said after the vote in a social media post. “I have consistently supported increased funding when it is paired with real, meaningful reforms that improve outcomes for students. This bill did not meet that standard.”
He also cast doubt on the future of the tax bill, which passed the House and Senate this year but has yet to be signed into law or vetoed.
Whether the funding ultimately flows to school districts, though, is uncertain. Alaska’s Constitution gives the governor the power to unilaterally reduce or eliminate line items from the budget. Dunleavy said Monday he’s considering whether to veto a portion of school funding from the budget but has not made a final decision.
It could be difficult for lawmakers to override a line-item veto. Overriding a budget veto requires a three-quarters majority, 45 votes, and lawmakers would not be required to consider an override until they reconvene in early 2026. Though 46 legislators supported Tuesday’s override, some Republican lawmakers were noncommittal when asked whether they’d support overriding a possible line-item veto.
Even with the additional funding, some school districts will continue to face severe budget shortfalls. Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, said his local school system, the Alaska Gateway School District, faced a $2 million budget deficit even with the additional funding.
“So this is a much needed thing,” Cronk said. “There were some good policies in the bill, but this is a funding issue, especially for rural school districts, and I have to support our rural school districts by increasing this.”
School leaders across the state said they were relieved in interviews Tuesday. Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland said the funding is needed to reduce class sizes and retain educators.
“If we had kept up with inflation, we'd be looking at (an) $1,800 increase to the BSA,” Holland said. “Right now we've all cut to the bone. There's no fat, and so people need to dig into the truth about where the funding is going and not say these outrageous things about it's all going to an admin, or whoever it may be, it's going back to our classrooms, and you can't starve education and expect better results. That's just plain and simple.”
Holland said he’s confident legislators would be able to override again if Dunleavy uses his line-item veto to remove some or all of the school funding increase, but worries about what may happen to schools if legislators are unable to convene for another veto override vote until the next legislative session begins.
“A mid-June, end of June decision could really set our world on fire, and not just here in the Kenai, but across the state,” Holland said.
Joshua Gill is the principal of Ayaprun Elitnaurvik, a charter school in Bethel. Gill was in good spirits after the vote to override Dunleavy’s veto.
“The feeling of that helplessness is gone,” Gill said.
Gill said the funding increase would help lower class sizes, retain teachers and achieve the outcomes sought by the Alaska Reads Act.
“I think it will dramatically impact being able to plan, get quality educators into our state, and being able to plan to have small classroom sizes, all those things,” Gill said. “Research shows, the longer educators stay in the community, the more beneficial it is for students to student outcomes.”
