Alaska House passes bipartisan education bill with historic school funding increase

Has been updated: 18 few seconds ago release date: twenty one few minutes ago

JUNEAU — The Alaska House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan education agreement Thursday night with a historic increase in funding for public schools.

The Senate is expected to agree to the bill, which will then send it to Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy's desk for consideration. The package is estimated to cost more than $200 million a year in additional spending.

The vote was 38-2 in favor of the bill. Only Republican Reps. Mike Prax and David Eastman voted against it.

The package includes the largest increase in official school funding in state history, additional funding for home-schooled students and provisions aimed at helping parents navigate the charter school application process .

The $175 million increase in official school funding equates to a $680 increase in the state's base student allocation, which is the state's per-pupil funding allocation. Education advocates say Alaska's school funding hasn't increased significantly since 2017, so an increase twice as large is needed.

The education package also includes $14.5 million in additional funding for home-schooled students. Provisions to improve internet speeds for eligible schools. It donated $10 million to help students struggling with reading after education advocacy groups argued that a sweeping reading bill passed two years ago was underfunded.

Earlier this week, the House of Representatives twice rejected the sweeping education policy from consideration in the House by a 20-20 vote. The package included Republican education priorities, including provisions for more charter schools. He will receive $58 million in bonuses for teachers and about $40 million in additional funding for home-schooled students.

After days of closed-door meetings, the bipartisan education deal was quickly finalized late Thursday and debated on the House floor in the evening. Several lawmakers said it had been an “ugly process” to reach a consensus, but praised the outcome.

Rep. Craig Johnson, an Anchorage Republican, said before the runoff that “you rarely get what you want,” but he wants the Legislature to pass it early to give school districts time to plan next year's budget. He said he supported it. .

Rep. Sarah Hannan, a Juneau Democrat who is a former teacher, said she supports the bill but said it would not be enough to increase school funding because of the planned school closures in Juneau.

Education advocates across the state say class sizes will likely increase this year without a significant increase in school funding. Popular school programs will be cut. And the teaching position will be abolished.

Lawmakers are racing to pass an education bill by the end of the month so eligible schools can apply for grants to improve internet download speeds. School districts must submit applications for these grants by Feb. 28 or they may miss out on significant funding over the fiscal year that begins in July.

This is a developing story and will be updated.