Alaska public schools will still receive $6.35 million in education funding that Gov. Bill Walker tried to veto from the state’s budget in late June.
Walker’s education cuts were part of a series of line item vetoes totaling $1.29 billion.
Department of Education and Early Development spokesman Eric Fry said in an email that the Division of Legislative Finance didn’t believe the K-12 foundation formula funding veto sufficiently addressed technical language in the state’s operating budget bill.
Fry said “instead of allowing uncertainty to continue,” the state will distribute formula funding to schools as if the veto didn’t happen.
He cautioned that formula funding for the fiscal year, which started in July, still is not decided because it is based on estimates.
Final state funding for schools depends on each school’s enrollment, Fry said. Before the veto was reversed, the Juneau School District faced a $212,938 cut in its formula funding.
The governor also vetoed another $6.35 million in student transportation funding that still is in effect. That veto has reduced Juneau School District’s student transportation funding by $248,764.
Together the two cuts would’ve contributed to a roughly $460,000 budget deficit for the district.
