This episode of The Empty Office Podcast examines the effort to pass Senate Bill 140 and a permanent increase to Alaska’s Base Student Allocation. SB 140, which was sponsored by Sen. Lyman Hoffman, began as a very simple bill to expand internet access to schools across Alaska. However, through a long and sometimes bizarre process, Sen. Hoffman’s bill was transformed into an omnibus education package.
As chair of the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Tobin played a key role in the negotiations to reach a deal on SB 140. On February 22, the Alaska House of Representatives passed SB 140 by a vote of 38-2. Just a few days later, on February 26, the Alaska State Senate concurred with the changes made in the House by a vote of 18-1.
On the afternoon of February 26, SB 140 was transmitted to the Governor for his consideration. Given the fact that there were only three no votes on the compromise education package, many lawmakers and stakeholders assumed that Governor Dunleavy would quickly sign the bill. That did not happen. Instead, Governor Dunleavy waited 18 days to act on the bill. During the evening of March 14, Governor Dunleavy vetoed SB 140.
It should be noted that SB 140 would have injected much-needed funding into Alaska’s public schools, which would have helped school districts recruit and retain teachers and support staff. The bill also would have increased funding for Alaska’s correspondence school programs and authorized a dedicated position within the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development to help Alaska’s charter schools, including assistance in preparing charter school applications.
Governor Dunleavy’s veto of SB 140 occurred on a Friday night and the members of the Alaska State Legislature gathered three days later for a joint session to try and override the veto. The Alaska Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of the combined legislature to override a gubernatorial veto, which meant that supporters of SB 140 had to get 40 override votes.
Sen. Tobin took to the House floor during the joint override session on March 18 to urge her colleagues to cast a historic vote for Alaska’s public education system.
Despite the work of Sen. Tobin and the other education advocates in the Alaska State Legislature, the effort to override Governor Dunleavy’s veto of SB 140 failed. A two-thirds majority was needed to override the veto. That equals 40 votes. The final vote on the veto override was 39-20. That means that the effort to pass SB 140 came up 1 vote short.
Many of the lawmakers who voted no on overriding the Governor’s veto spoke during the veto override session and afterward tried to explain why they switched their votes from yes on passage through the Legislature to no for the veto override. Many of them said there was plenty of time in the session to pass legislation that included the Governor’s education priorities and increase education funding. Unfortunately, that did not happen. The 2nd Regular Session of the 33rd Alaska State Legislature ended on May 15 without the House Majority acting on their much-anticipated education package.
The number 1 priority of the Senate Majority caucus was an education package that passed the Senate on May 11, 2023, by a vote of 17-2. The next day, Senate Bill 52 was referred to the House Finance Committee. Not quite a year later, on April 25, near the end of the 2024 session, the House Finance Committee finally held a hearing for SB 52. In just over 7 minutes, Sen. Tobin made the case for passing a permanent increase to the Base Student Allocation.
Unfortunately, the House Finance Committee never advanced an education package to the House floor. Senate Bill 52, like so many education bills before it, died when the gavel fell on the legislative session. Rest assured, the effort to permanently increase Alaska’s Base Student Allocation is not over and Sen. Tobin and others will be back in 2025 to renew the struggle.
While the permanent BSA increase did not pass this year, the fiscal year 2025 budget bill did pass on the final day of the 2024 legislative session. House Bill 268 includes significant additional resources for public education in Alaska, including:
$175 million in one-time education funding. (Equivalent to a $680 BSA increase)
$8.9 million to help fund the Alaska Reads Act. $180 per K-3 student and an additional $100 per student that qualifies for Title 1 funding. (Not to exceed $5.2 million)
$7.3 million in additional student transportation funding. (Distributed according to the pupil transportation formula)
An additional $5.2 million for Head Start to bring them up to the required 20% match to receive federal funding.
$1.5 million to support teacher recruitment and retention.
$11.8 million to satisfy the FY 2022 federal Maintenance of Equity requirements.
Season 3 of The Empty Office Podcast begins in November
This episode of The Empty Office Podcast is the final episode of Season 2. Thank you to all of our guests and a special thank you to all of the listeners for your patience and indulgence as we delve into the inner workings of the Alaska State Legislature. Season 3 of the podcast will begin in November after the 2024 elections are over.
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