A budget proposal that would provide $100 million to shore up schools and state facilities in dire need of repairs across Alaska is on its way to a full Senate vote. The Senate Finance Committee rolled out its capital budget on Monday and passed the bill out of committee Tuesday afternoon.
The Senate’s draft would require roughly $248 million in unrestricted funds, much of which would go towards shoring up schools and state facilities around the state. That’s $88 million more than the governor proposed in December. The head capital budgeter in the state Senate, Republican Sen. Bert Stedman of Sitka, said it represents “roughly half” of the final amount he hopes to see pass the Legislature this year.
Stedman said the Senate’s draft seeks to spread dollars fairly around the state by leaning heavily on prioritized lists of projects developed by the governor’s administration, rather than allowing legislators to pick and choose their favorites.
“We're trying to deal with some of the massive deferred maintenance that's being compiled up for the state to deal with,” Stedman said. “Unfortunately, there isn't enough funds to have individual allocations to all our communities.”
The budget includes about $100 million in deferred maintenance projects, more than half of which would go towards K-12 schools. An investigation by ProPublica, KYUK and NPR last year found many state-owned schools had fallen into disrepair, especially in Alaska’s most remote communities.
The $57 million set aside for K-12 major maintenance projects is enough to fully fund the first 15 projects on a list the state education department compiles, with one exception — the No. 2 item on the list, a $36 million school renovation project in Galena, would be only partially funded at $5 million.
The Galena project, unlike many others on the list, was newly added this year. Senators and the education commissioner have said the system used to prioritize projects can unfairly disadvantage poorer, predominantly Native school districts that don’t have the financial resources to draw up the extensive documentation essential to a high ranking on the list.
Three more rural schools would have repairs to their tank farms funded through the Department of Environmental Conservation. The draft capital budget also allocates $12 million toward replacing a school in the Western Alaska community of Stebbins destroyed in a fire in 2024.
Some $14 million would be set aside for repairs at Mt. Edgecumbe High School. Lawmakers decried “deplorable” conditions at the state-run boarding school after a visit earlier this year.
The capital budget draft would also fund four workforce development programs aimed at boosting the oilfield and pipeline workforce as oil drilling expands and developers eye a gas pipeline from the North Slope.
Two Anchorage senators, Republican Sens. Kelly Merrick and James Kaufman, attempted to add $25 million for the Port of Alaska in Anchorage during a Finance Committee meeting Tuesday. A majority of the committee, though — Stedman and co-chairs Lyman Hoffman of Bethel and Donny Olson of Golovin, plus Senate Minority Leader Mike Cronk of Tok — voted down the amendment, saying it would require reducing the amount that could be put toward school maintenance.
The draft budget also provides millions in matching funds for federal projects. Along with federal funding and other restricted revenue, the bill would enable about $2.5 billion in total spending. Its next stop is the Senate floor.
