Senate majority says new education bill needs to come from Alaska House

JUNEAU — A day after lawmakers failed to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy's veto of a bipartisan education bill, Senate leadership will now decide whether to lead future efforts to pass education legislation up to House Republicans. He said that.

On Monday, 16 of 20 senators and 23 of 40 House members voted to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy's veto of education policy, reaching the 40-vote threshold for reversing the governor's action. One vote was missing.

The bipartisan education bill included a historic $175 million increase in official school funding. He added $13 million to home-schooled students. We also provide funding to help parents navigate the charter school application process across the state.

“We've put forward every possible solution. It's up to the House to move forward,” said Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican.

Stevens said it was House Republicans who blocked passage of Monday's veto override vote. All 20 votes against the override came from Republicans. Fifteen of these Republicans are members of the House Majority Caucus.

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House Republicans have prioritized education priorities, including authorizing new charter schools to a statewide board appointed by Dunleavy and paying annual bonuses to teachers at a cost of about $180 million over three years. He said he would like to make another attempt to satisfy Dunleavy's request for action.

However, Senate leaders said they were unlikely to make any further concessions to the governor after agreeing to a compromise on a bill that has already failed. The bill included provisions to help parents navigate the existing charter school system and language encouraging school districts to use grants to increase teacher salaries.

“Now we're being asked to come up with a compromise,” said Sen. Bill Wilechowski, an Anchorage Democrat and the Senate's chief education negotiator. “The ball is in the court of the House. Yes,” he added.

Wierechowski said the teacher bonus was an “expensive experiment.” He previously expressed concern that Dunleavy's charter school proposal was a “misfire” for the Senate majority and could curb the power of local school boards. Wierechowski said the Senate majority is offering multiple compromises to avoid a veto on school funding. But none were successful.

At a news conference Tuesday, Republican-controlled House members said there was still time to pass a new education bill before the regular session ends in May. But he offered few specifics on how the legislative process would move forward to reach an agreement with the Senate and governor.

“We want education to be funded. And we want to have good policy,” said House Speaker Kathy Tilton, R-Wasilla.

Two new education bills sponsored by House Republicans were introduced last week. Rep. Tom McKay (R-Anchorage) proposed an alternative to SB 140 that also includes the governor's teacher bonus proposal. McKay was one of 17 Republicans who supported SB140 but subsequently voted against veto override.

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Rep. Craig Johnson (R-Anchorage) was one of them. He recommended Tuesday that districts build their budgets assuming Congress will not increase education spending this year. He warned Wednesday that the $680 BSA increase was unlikely to pass.

“I'm always worried about giving false hope, but I've never quit,” he said.

Without increasing base student quotas, some school districts across the state are taking drastic actions to balance their budgets, including cutting teacher positions, increasing class sizes, closing special programs, and closing facilities. It warns that you must take the following.

The Fairbanks school board is scheduled to discuss closing two schools Tuesday night as Anchorage school administrators try to reconcile a $100 million deficit.

Ron Garrison, executive director of the Alaska School Boards Association, said in a statement that it is imperative that everyone returns to the negotiating table.

“Schools are closing, class sizes are increasing, staff cannot be hired or retained, facilities are being neglected, and safety is becoming increasingly less safe. Families with means are leaving the state,” Garrison said. he said.

Sen. Cathy Giesel, R-Anchorage, said it was ironic that Dunleavy, a fellow Republican, lobbied lawmakers to maintain his veto on education funding.

“The governor has been talking for the last two years about prioritizing families and making this state a family-friendly state,” she said, adding that Dunleavy is dealing with an exodus of working-age Alaskans for the 11th consecutive year. He spoke while referring to the initiative. “These families are leaving their homes. If their children don't have a good education, they will leave,” she added.

Over the weekend, lawmakers reported receiving hundreds of emails and phone calls urging them to override or uphold Dunleavy's education veto.

Several Republicans said on the House floor that they supported Dunleavy's veto of SB140 because it was uncertain whether the bill's school funding increases would be funded. Dunleavy indicated at a press conference Friday that he is prepared to deny funding to school corporations from the budget.

Palmer Sen. Shelley Hughes, one of three Republicans outside the Senate majority, said the Senate majority was “out of obstinacy” in blocking Dunleavy's charter school proposal and teacher bonuses from being approved. ”.

“I think it’s more of a matter of pride,” she said.

Veteran lawmakers have said privately that Dunleavy's recent absences from the Capitol have hampered the chances of passing his preferred education policies. The governor's office confirmed Tuesday that Dunleavy is traveling to Texas to participate in a major national energy conference. Dunleavy is scheduled to speak at the Thursday morning meeting.

After first announcing in February that he intended to veto the education bill without further action, Dunleavy spent much of the two-week negotiation period traveling outside the province, to Alberta, Canada, and Washington, D.C. Spent on a trip to. His office declined to respond. The question was about the purpose of Dunleavy's visit to Washington, D.C., where he attended the State of the Union address as a guest of the U.S. senator from Arkansas.

McKay's education bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing in the House Education Committee. The committee was unable to meet for much of February due to disagreements among House Republicans.

Rep. Justin Loughridge, R-Soldotna, who co-chairs the Education Committee and voted in favor of veto override, said he was unaware of McKay's education bill until it was introduced. He said Tuesday he was waiting for House Republican leaders to come up with an education plan.

“It's going to be up to the majority to move something and try to bring back the Senate and the governor. It's a pretty steep hill,” he said.

An alternative to permanent school funding increases is to add one-time school funding to the budget. Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, a former teacher, said one-time school funds are a “waste” because school administrators can hardly use them to hire new teachers or develop long-term budgets. '' and said it was “inefficient.''

Bjorkman criticized her Republican colleagues in the House for advocating for education aid but supporting a veto of funding increases. There was a lot of “wiggle” language used, he said.

“There are no two ways about it. People can say whatever they want about how they feel about education. But sometimes our votes are the most eloquent words.” he said.

With less than half of the 121-day legislative session left, Congress still needs to pass a budget and consider policies to address the impending Cook Inlet natural gas shortage. Dunleavy said Friday it was time to pivot from education to energy policy, but lawmakers from both agencies said education remains a priority.

“Nobody can leave this building this year without committing to education and not doing well in education at the end of the day,” McKay said.

“It feels like we've finished a race and now we're all on the starting line again,” Loughridge said.

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