Education funding issues are still unresolved in Legislature

JUNEAU -- Education funding remains one of the biggest unresolved issues heading into the final days of this legislative session.

Bills aimed at helping school districts address rising energy costs have passed the Senate. But they face skepticism within the House, where members of the Republican majority want to see signs of improvement within the K-12 system before approving more money for it.

Also unsettled: how to approach Gov. Sean Parnell's merit scholarship plan, one of his top legislative priorities.

The House Finance Committee plans to continue work on a bill that would establish a long-term funding source for the program. But Sen. Bert Stedman, the Republican co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has said he's not inclined to advance such a bill on the Senate side and would rather address funding for the upcoming year alone, an approach that Parnell has called unacceptable.

The House and Senate versions of the operating budget are millions of dollars apart on one-time funding to get the program up and running, and lawmakers will need to hash out those differences.

School districts have warned of program and staffing cuts if they do not receive more funding to keep pace with high energy costs. One of the bills passed by the Senate establishes a revenue sharing program for schools and municipalities that would kick in at times of higher oil prices. The bill is a priority of one of the Legislature's most influential leaders, Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, the other Senate Finance co-chairman, and the Senate has approved $40 million for the program in its version of the state operating budget, contingent upon a bill passing this year.

The other bill would provide a $110 increase in the base student allocation for next year to help districts with energy costs. It also would establish a vocational education factor in the school funding formula. There is support within the House for strengthening vocational programs, for which senators say funding is now lumped with special education, gifted and talented and bilingual programs.

Republican House Speaker Mike Chenault said a combination of the two bills will probably pass the Legislature but leaders are currently gauging the level of support within the House for the proposals.

Chenault said he believes there must be multiyear funding for vocational education. It would be hard to expect districts to implement programs if they only had funding for one year, he said. But any increases in per-pupil spending or to address fuel costs may need to wait a year until lawmakers get a better sense of the direction they want to take on that issue long-term, Chenault said.

"Because there's a number in the House who don't feel that we're getting what we want out of K-12 education," he said.

Parnell has also said he doesn't support putting much more new money into funding education in the same way if better results aren't seen in improving the system.

Barb Angaiak, president of the National Education Association-Alaska, said the teachers' union accepts responsibility for ensuring that teachers are doing the best they can in the classroom and is working hard to do that. But the cost of doing business is very expensive and rising, leaving programs and staffing vulnerable to cuts to ensure basic services are met, she said.

While schools have seen funding increases in recent years, it hasn't been enough to make up for "years and years" of underfunding, Angaiak said.

"If this problem doesn't get addressed now, it is going to get worse in the future," she said.