Some Southeast lawmakers hope to fund K-12 in advance

Juneau-Douglas seniors walk to Harborview Elementary School on Friday. (Photo courtesy Juneau School District)
Graduating Juneau-Douglas seniors walk to Harborview Elementary School in 2017. (Photo courtesy Juneau School District)

Education will once again be at the front of many Alaskans’ minds, including Southeast legislators, as the legislative session gets underway.

Gov. Bill Walker is proposing $1.26 billion in education funding for the budget year that begins in July, which maintains the current year’s base student allocation used to determine K-12 funding.

The numbers are one matter.

Whether or not the budget will pass in a timely fashion is another.

Last year, fiscal uncertainty forced many school districts across the state to hand out pink slips, only to rehire many of those teachers once the final budget passed in late June.

A pre-filed bill from Kodiak Republican Sen. Gary Stevens, Senate Bill 131, would require the Legislature to pass an education budget by April 1.

The Legislature used to plan out several years’ worth of education funding in advance, but that ended with the state’s fiscal crisis.

Juneau Democrat Sen. Dennis Egan said he supports reimplementing forward funding for education.

“I think we oughta do it again, because municipalities have to know what teachers are going to be paid and how many teachers municipalities will have,” Egan said. “But we pass it late, then municipalities have to go back and readjust things.”

Rep. Dan Ortiz, an independent from Ketchikan, serves as chair of a subcommittee on the state’s education budget.

A former teacher, Ortiz supports the idea of forward funding education and feels cautiously optimistic that other legislators do too.

“I think there’s a possibility,” Ortiz said. “I’m hearing that there might be some support for that from the Senate. I know there will be some support for that from the House Majority side. So we’ll see if it happens, but I’m hopeful.”

The governor’s budget also proposes flat funding the University of Alaska’s operations.

Separately, it calls for $70 million for the system’s substantial deferred maintenance backlog.

Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman said he supports the governor’s budget proposal. He believes the university system needed to go on a “financial diet.”

Legislators are constitutionally obligated to fund K-12, and they should prioritize that, he said.

“But if the university wants a huge budgetary increase when we’re losing — have a deficit of $2.5 billion plus — my response to that meeting when they come to my office is, ‘Good luck,’” Stedman said. “Fix the problem first.”

But some legislators may push back against that outlook.

Rep. Justin Parish said investing in higher education allows more Alaskans to stay in the state for school and, later, their careers. And that’s good for the state’s economy, the Juneau Democrat said.

“It’s very frustrating to know that 20 percent of our workforce right now is coming from outside the state,” Parish said. “And if we fail to invest in good, post-secondary education that number will only climb.”

SB 131 has been referred to the Senate’s Education and Finance committees. Regular budget hearings will be underway for weeks to come.

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