| Advertisement |
|
|
The state House’s Democratic minority is introducing a bill that would change part of Alaska’s Base Student Allocation formula for education funding, which determines how much the state provides to teach every child in Alaska.
The Legislative Research Service says that figure now stands at $5,680 per year, per student -- but House Bill 95 would increase the value to $5,966.
"Fundamentally we need to keep pace with inflation, and we haven't done that for three years,” said Rep. Andy Josephson (D-Anchorage).
Josephson is one of eight co-sponsors of fellow Anchorage Democrat Rep. Les Gara's bill, introduced in Juneau Wednesday. The bill claims the BSA has been flat funded since 2009.
"There is an insufficient tax base, and no other source of revenue…in order to maintain the quality of the education, to keep taxes down,” Josephson said.
Republicans say they've already accounted for the funding of several obligations within the school system -- including teacher retirement programs and school construction projects.
"We have put in money above and beyond that BSA, whether it was for retirement funding that we took out of the BSA, that we pay separately,” said House Majority Leader Lance Pruitt (R-Anchorage). “We actually increased the amount we paid into the retirement fund above the amount we paid the year before."
A similar bill introduced by Democrats last year passed the Senate in 2012, but died in the House. This year's bill has yet to draw any co-sponsors from the Republican majority.
"There seems to be some people that think the only solution to education is just money, money will solve everything,” Pruitt said. “We recognize that's not the only thing."
Earlier this month Gov. Sean Parnell said he'd consider an increase in school funding, but only if performance in the classroom improved.
Contact Adam Pinsker