JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) — Members of the House and Senate expect a narrow vote to override the governor's veto of the education bill Monday afternoon, when lawmakers are scheduled to meet in a joint session.
To override the governor's veto, a vote of 40 out of 60 members is required. SB-140 passed the House by a vote of 38-2 and the Senate by a vote of 18-1. Despite the bill initially receiving support from 57 of 60 senators, Senate Rules Committee Chairman Bill Wilechowski (D-Anchorage) said over the weekend that the pressure many members feel is I talked about this.
“My hope is that we overwhelmingly override the veto,” Wierechowski said. “That's my hope because it sends a very strong message. I just don't know if that's the case. I've learned through this business that things change. They're very fluid. I was just talking to people and texting them today and I'm hearing that the situation is very fluid and people are under a lot of pressure on a lot of different fronts.”
At a press conference Friday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he believes the bill is primarily focused on increasing the state's per-student funding formula, known as the Base Student Allocation (BSA), by $175 million. He said some of his decisions were rooted in. He doesn't think anything will solve parents' calls for something to be done about charter school waiting lists and teacher recruitment and retention in Alaska.
The final version of SB-140, which passed the House and Senate, includes provisions that would give the state education commissioner, appointed by Dunleavy, the authority to approve new charter schools, and a proposal to pay $61 million for a three-year teacher bonus pilot. was not included. This program is designed to study whether payments ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 based on school location are successful in recruiting and retaining teachers in Alaska.
In the hours before the vote, lawmakers had different visions of what was to come.
“Some of us had some very small, reasonable requests, but we were completely ignored and what we're trying to do is…almost $250 million every year, “Recurring costs, almost $200 million spent, no change,” Sen. Mike Shower (R-Wasilla) said while sharing his plans to vote against the change, wondering if teachers would receive that money. Or, there's no way to know for sure whether that money will go to the kids in the classroom.”
The veto came hours after House members sent the charter school bill to the Education Committee, while the Senate Education Committee continued to advance teacher bonus payments. Dunleavy's office had said the governor's priority legislation did not need to pass before the veto deadline if it determined meaningful action was being taken.
Echoing the voices of opposition reacting to Friday's veto, Wierechowski expressed serious concerns about what not overriding the veto would mean for the future of Alaska's education system.
“What’s really important is that schools all over the state depend on this,” Wierechowski said. “If this bill doesn't pass, I think it's very likely that teachers will be laid off significantly. It's very likely that programming will be cut. It's very likely that schools will close. It is very likely that academic and athletic programs will be cut across the state.”
At a press conference Friday, the governor promised to meet school districts' funding needs despite the veto decision.
“Just because a bill is vetoed doesn't mean it won't get funding,” Dunleavy said. “The money will be there. It will happen.”
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