State Government

The Alaska Legislature has approved state funding for child advocacy centers, which support child victims of physical and sexual abuse.

Alaska’s 20 centers were in limbo, facing a $5.5 million shortfall after federal grants were ended or cut, as well as uncertainty over whether operations and services would continue past June.

On Friday afternoon, the budget conference committee – tasked with hammering out the final budget between the House and Senate versions – approved the funds to fill the gap and provide $5.5 million in state funding.

Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage and chair of the committee, said it was made clear that funding for the centers was a priority. “They’re critically important, and they rose to the very, very top of my list,” he said. “In other words, there was no ask, given their financial predicament and importance, that I thought was more significant.”

Mari Mukai, executive director of the nonprofit Alaska Children’s Alliance, said she was grateful for the funding. The alliance provides support, training and technical assistance to Alaska’s 20 child advocacy centers around the state. “I know what a difficult fiscal situation we’re in right now and understand that many difficult decisions needed to be made,” she said in a phone interview on Monday.

Child advocacy centers provide services for children and their caregivers after suspected physical or sexual abuse, including trauma-informed interviewing, forensic services, streamlined investigations, and victim advocacy through the life of the case. They served 2,061 families statewide last year, Mukai said.

The centers are funded at $10.9 million through a mix of federal and local grants, as well as other funding they raise. Mukai said the state’s backstop funding will make up about half of their budget, and enable the centers to continue current operations and services.

“Unfortunately, Alaska is consistently on the top of the nation for rates of child abuse and violence, and domestic violence, and so unfortunately, yes, I do think that there’s still a lot of need, but this would be a great first step,” she said.

The Alaska Legislature voted to approve the final operating budget on Tuesday, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy will issue budget vetoes of individual line items before July 1.

Mukai added that another federal grant the centers rely on is in danger – the Victims of Crime Act, provided by the U.S. Department of Justice through penalties related to crimes. Alaska advocates are urging the congressional delegation to push the U.S. Congress to protect this funding, as the Trump administration has moved to cancel hundreds of grants and millions of dollars supporting victims services through the Department of Justice.

After 22 years in the Alaska Senate, Senate President Gary Stevens is retiring.

Stevens’ decision has been discussed in the Alaska Capitol for more than a year, but on Tuesday, it became official as Kodiak Republican Rep. Louise Stutes became the first person to announce that she will run for Stevens’ seat.

“I certainly will endorse Louise any way I can to help her out,” Stevens said on Wednesday. “She should be a really fine senator. She’s had a lot of experience in the House, and I think she’d do a great job, and I’d be glad to help her out in any way I can.”

Stutes filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission shortly after the Alaska Legislature adjourned its regular session for the year.

Legislators are forbidden from campaigning during the session, and the day after the first year of the legislative session typically marks the informal opening of the candidate filing period.

Campaigning typically doesn’t begin in earnest until after the second year of the legislative session.

Stutes’ early start may be a foreshadowing of things to come in the district: Stevens has represented the area covering Kodiak and the southern Kenai Peninsula since being appointed to the seat in 2003, making next year’s election a generational shift for the district.

Stutes said on Wednesday that fundraising doesn’t come naturally to her, “so I thought that I’d better get a jump start on it. You can’t get a jump start on it until you file your letter.”

Stutes said she doesn’t know whether there will be many candidates in the race.

Each of Alaska’s Senate districts includes two House districts. Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, represents the other half of Stevens’ district and hasn’t filed a letter of intent for next year’s elections. She did not return a phone call seeking comment on Wednesday afternoon.

Stutes noted that her husband, commercial fisherman Stormy Stutes, grew up in Anchor Point, and they still have family members who live in Vance’s district, so she has connections to that part of Alaska.

This isn’t the first time that Stevens has said he will retire, but it’s certain this time.

“I’m 83 now. I’ll be 85 when I retire, and I think that’s just enough,” he said by phone. “I have other plans, things I want to do. I wrote a play about Ted Stevens that was successful in Anchorage; I want to do another one. I’m a bit of a painter, and I want to go on and do painting and writing and concentrate on those things, as well as spend time with my grandkids.”

Stutes said she’s been interested in running to replace Stevens since that first abortive retirement.

“I’m really lucky. Gary and I get along really well. … He’s been wonderful to work with. I’ll really miss him, of course, because we have such a great working relationship,” she said.

Voters elected Stutes to replace longtime Kodiak lawmaker Alan Austerman in 2014 and reelected her five times since then. She has governed as a moderate Republican, frequently joining the House’s predominantly Democratic coalition and once served a term as speaker of the House.

“I’m like every legislator. I really feel like I’m helping my district and Alaskans. Right or wrong, I feel like I’ve been able to make a difference with the Marine Highway System. I believe I’ve been able to help bring fisheries to the forefront,” Stutes said. “When I first got elected years ago, I told Stormy that the one thing I want to do is take fisheries from the back burner and put them on the front burner. And I think that I’ve been somewhat successful in moving it forward.”

The Alaska Senate is currently controlled by a 14-person bipartisan coalition that includes nine Democrats and five Republicans. Three of those Republicans are up for reelection next year, and all are in potential swing districts.

Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, and Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, said they will run for office again. Stevens is the third.

Among the coalition’s Democrats, Sens. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, and Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, both confirmed that they will run for reelection.

Sens. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, and Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, have not yet filed letters of intent. Hoffman has been in the Legislature since 1987 and in the Senate since 1991, making him the longest-serving legislator in state history.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, said on Wednesday that he hasn’t yet decided whether he will run for reelection.

Sens. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, and Rob Myers, R-North Pole, also face reelection next year. Neither returned a text message seeking comment on Wednesday.

Among incumbent members of the state House, Reps. Maxine Dibert, D-Anchorage, Carolyn Hall, D-Anchorage, and Donna Mears, D-Anchorage, have all filed letters of intent for reelection.

Former Rep. Cliff Groh, D-Anchorage, announced that he will again seek to challenge Rep. David Nelson, R-Anchorage, in 2026. Nelson had been elected in 2020, lost to Groh in 2022 and defeated Groh in 2024.Through Wednesday afternoon, Groh was the only nonincumbent to file with the Public Offices Commission.

After four months, lawmakers have finished their yearly legislative session. They passed dozens of bills and resolutions, a budget with a $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend and teed up several proposals for next year’s session.

Here’s some of what they did.

1. Passed a budget with a $1,000 PFD and very little new spending

With oil prices lower than forecast and widely expected to fall further — the federal government says tariff-induced economic uncertainty and rising global oil production are to blame for that — passing a budget was an especially challenging task this year.

“When we started, we were a billion and a half (dollars) underwater, and then after some adjustments, we were $2 billion underwater,” said Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, referring to the governor’s budget. “We navigated through the process here, and we ended up with a small surplus.”

The $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend is an all-time low for the state’s annual oil-wealth check, when adjusted for inflation. Dividends typically go out to Alaskans in the fall.

The Senate passed an especially austere budget, refusing nearly all of the governor’s requested additions and the vast majority of those added in the House’s version of the budget.

The unrestricted portion of the budget — the portion that lawmakers squabble over, excluding federal funds and other restricted revenue — is $6.2 billion this year, down about 5%, $369 million, from last year.

But in the end, some key areas saw spending increases. Education is by far the largest one — especially a boost to K-12 funding, more on that in a minute. But there’s also $5.5 million for child advocacy centers, $13.7 million in behavioral health grants, $7.7 million for child care, $2.5 million for senior centers and $880,000.

The head budgeter for the House, Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, said lawmakers saw those as essential needs.

“Some of these investments are not enormous, but they have vast benefits downstream, and that’s why we think they’re warranted,” he said. “In a competition with that and the dividend, folks need to understand that when we spend this $50 million, that would amount to very, very little extra money in a dividend.”

An additional $50 million, if put towards the dividend, would come out to $80 per Alaskan.

Lawmakers tried to draw roughly $200 million from savings to fill an oil slump-induced budget deficit in the current fiscal year, but minority Republicans successfully blocked the three-quarters majority necessary to draw from the Constitutional Budget Reserve. Instead, the money will come from accounts for the state’s investment agency, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, and a state scholarship fund.

“I have, am having a hard time myself — this is, personally, no one else — drawing from savings to fund the budget right now, when I’ve had no negotiations with the Senate majority or the House majority,” Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, said ahead of the vote.

2. Overcame a veto and increased public school funding

Lawmakers have sought for years to substantially increase basic state funding for public schools by raising the base student allocation, part of the state’s education funding formula. This year, they succeeded.

A joint session of the Legislature voted 46-14 to override Dunleavy’s veto of House Bill 57, which increases basic per-student funding by $700, bans student cellphone use and makes a variety of changes to laws surrounding charter schools aimed at making them easier to create and renew. Eleven House and Senate minority Republicans joined the bipartisan majority coalitions to approve the bill.

Proponents said the funding would ease, but not eliminate, budgetary pressures that have led school systems across the state to reduce their offerings. They said additional funding would help reduce class sizes and, since the bill changes the state’s funding formula indefinitely, prevent them from having to prepare to lay off many teachers in staff while funding remains in flux, as as been the case in recent years.

Opponents, including the governor, said the bill didn’t make enough meaningful changes to education policy.

Because the governor has line-item veto power, the veto override is not the final word — Dunleavy said he has not decided whether to reduce education funding in the state budget.

3. Eased access to tablet computers for prison inmates

One bill that passed this year, House Bill 35, would allow prisoners to use tablet computers for things like classes, telehealth appointments, even virtual visits when people can’t travel long distances.

Backers say that tablets can also help make prisoners familiar with today’s very electronics-heavy world. Sen. Robb Myers, R-Fairbanks, was the primary advocate for the bill in the Senate.

“I think it can be a significant influence, both to help lower our recidivism rates and to help get some of our costs under control within the prison system,” he said.

Support for the bill crossed party lines. It passed the Senate unanimously and the House by a 28-12 vote.

4. Looked to out-of-state corporations for additional tax revenue

Members of the Senate’s bipartisan majority caucus spent much of the session calling for the state to raise new revenue to alleviate the fiscal crunch. Only one of those bills passed either the House or Senate.

That’s Senate Bill 113, which passed both chambers and is headed for the governor’s desk. It’s a change to corporate income taxes that aims to raise more money from out-of-state companies by changing how the tax code looks at sales over the internet to Alaska consumers.

“It doesn’t tax a single Alaskan. In fact, it lowers taxes on Alaskans,” Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said. “It raises taxes on Outside tech billionaires.”

The bill could face a veto from Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who said Monday he isn’t interested in signing tax bills until lawmakers come up with a comprehensive plan for the state’s fiscal future. That’s a goal that has eluded lawmakers and the governor for years, though Dunleavy said he’s hoping to get together with a small group of lawmakers this summer to hammer out some proposals.

It passed largely along caucus lines, 14-6 in the Senate and 26-14 in the House, with seven minority Republicans crossing over to support the measure.

5. Passed a new version a app-based rental car tax bill vetoed last year

Last year, lawmakers passed a bill that would have required peer-to-peer car rental companies like Turo to collect rental car taxes. Currently, the car owners are required to keep track of their taxes and file with the state, but many don’t, state officials say.

Dunleavy vetoed the bill, with a spokesperson calling it “unnecessary taxation.” That’s despite the fact that the bill did not change whether the tax was owed — just who was responsible for collecting it and sending it to the state. In fact, the bill cut taxes on Turo and similar platforms.

This year, lawmakers passed the very similar House Bill 123 in a near-unanimous vote.

There’s one significant change: It would cut rental car taxes for traditional agencies like Hertz and Avis by 1%, to 9%. Last year’s bill did not change the rental car tax rate. The rate for Turo and similar rental platforms would be lower, at 7%. This year’s bill, like last year’s, would not be retroactive, meaning Turo owners would not be liable for back taxes they haven’t submitted to the state.

Dunleavy has not said whether he’ll sign the bill this time around.

6. Sought to limit the interest rates payday lenders can charge

One bill lawmakers passed this year places strict limits on so-called “payday loans,” short-term, high-interest loans.

“These loans, often marketed as quick solutions, come with interest rates that average 421% in Alaska, according to the Alaska Public Interest Research Group, and frequently trap borrowers in cycles of debt,” sponsor Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, said at a hearing earlier this year.

Senate Bill 39 caps the interest rate payday lenders can charge to 36%, the maximum rate for most other loans. Opponents said the bill was rushed and argued it could reduce low-income residents’ access to credit.

“This is government overreach,” said Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River. “Individuals should be able take loans as they wish at whatever percentage rate.”

It passed largely along caucus lines with the bipartisan majority caucuses in support: 14-6 in the Senate and 24-16 in the House.

7. Re-passed bills passed last year after midnight, and another challenged on constitutional grounds

Last year, Dunleavy vetoed five bills passed after midnight on the last day of the legislative session, which he said violated the state Constitution.

This year, lawmakers passed new versions of three of them:

• House Bill 31, removing what sponsor Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, said was a duplicative registration requirement for commercial fishing vessels
• House Bill 69, also from Stutes, which authorizes $75 million in bonds for a cruise terminal upgrade in Seward
• Senate Bill 15, sponsored Sen. Kelly Merrick, R-Eagle River, which allows 18-20-year-olds to serve alcohol under some circumstances and requires a new sign warning patrons that alcohol can cause cancer.

Lawmakers also re-passed elements of another bill from last year combining several unrelated proposals, which was the subject of a constitutional lawsuit. The state Constitution requires bills to be limited to a single subject. This year, lawmakers passed the four proposals as separate bills in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

8. Issued a variety of requests to the federal government and others

Lawmakers use resolutions to send messages, often to the federal government. This year, they passed a wide variety of resolutions. Here are a few:

• House Joint Resolution 4, urging the federal government to keep the name Denali for North America’s highest peak
• House Joint Resolution 5, asking Congress to extend the expired Secure Rural Schools program, which provides education funding in areas with large amounts of federal forest land
• House Joint Resolution 11, opposing tariffs on Canada and affirming the nation’s sovereignty as an independent nation
• House Joint Resolution 13, calling on the president to resume evacuation flights and expand visas for Afghans who helped U.S. forces
• Senate Joint Resolution 10, urging Congress to issue the Congressional Gold Medal to Hmong veterans who assisted the U.S. in the Vietnam War
• Senate Joint Resolution 12, requesting repairs and better maintenance of federal weather buoys
• Senate Joint Resolution 15, asking the state’s congressional delegation to oppose cuts to Medicaid.

9. Left a few issues on the table for next year

Lawmakers also left legislation in three key areas unfinished.

An election reform bill, Senate Bill 64, stalled in the final days of the legislative session amid opposition from Republicans who said it made elections less secure. Lawmakers decided to hold the bill — and a separate bill that would reimpose limits on how much can be donated to candidates for state office, House Bill 16 — for next year.

A bill that would reinstate a pension system for state employees, which both the House and Senate’s bipartisan, Democrat-heavy majority caucuses said was a top priority, also did not cross the finish line this year. Though House Bill 78 passed the House on a caucus-line 21-19 vote, the primary pension advocate in the Senate, Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, called the pension bill a “two-year project.”

Also left unfinished were reforms to the structure of the Alaska Permanent Fund. Though there’s roughly $80 billion in the fund, managers have warned repeatedly that its antiquated two-account structure threatens its ability to pay for state services. They asked lawmakers to consider a constitutional amendment that would combine the two accounts into one, similar to a university endowment. They also asked that the amendment ensure that lawmakers cannot draw more than 5% of the fund each year. Though the 5% draw is part of state law, legislators can ignore it by a simple majority vote.

Though amendments were proposed in the House and Senate, they did not pass either body this year.

Because this is the first year of a two-year Legislature, bills don’t die at the end of the session — lawmakers can attempt to pick up where they left off next year.

The second session of the 34th Alaska Legislature is slated to gavel in on January 20, 2026.

The Alaska Legislature adjourned its regular session on Tuesday, one day earlier than expected, after passing a “maintenance level” state budget that contains a $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend. Legislators do not expect a special session this year.

“I would like to thank all of you for getting to this point: a day early, and before midnight. Pretty remarkable,” said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak.

Legislators adjourned hours after overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a major education bill. During the time in between, they passed a series of bills, including a ban on payday lending, changes to tax collection for Turo, and policies for prisoners’ use of tablet PCs, among others.

This year, the first of the two-year 34th Alaska State Legislature, 32 bills were passed by both the House and the Senate.

After the House ended its formal work for the year, legislative aides began celebrating with music and pizza, filling the Capitol’s fourth floor with singing and cheering.

A narrow House majority didn’t stumble

During the session, legislators contended with falling oil revenue. Legislators didn’t pass any tax increases, instead adopting significant budget cuts. The Alaska House navigated partisan divisions that left its majority coalition — 14 Democrats, 5 independents and 2 Republicans — with only a one-vote margin over a 19-person House Republican minority.

That coalition majority, and a similar one in the Senate, had to negotiate with a governor who has significantly different policy views from the coalitions.

Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, said the early adjournment is something to be proud of.

“I’m pretty pleased that we achieved it,” he said.

It was the first time since 2018 that the Legislature did not reach the constitutional limit of 121 days to complete the session, though the 2020 session was interrupted by a seven-week break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In a year where the House was sharply divided in terms of numbers, oil prices sank, we did our best to work with the governor, who, at many times, was not seemingly here in the building, and we put it all together,” Edgmon said.

House Minority Leader Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, said her caucus wasn’t satisfied with the result.

“I think we’re disappointed that we didn’t address more issues related to energy and the challenges we have and the opportunities that we have with resource development and energy and dovetailing with the president and our congressional delegation,” she said. “So we wanted more legislation in that area. But as far as adjourning, it is what it is, and we’re just going to gear up for next year.”

Spending plan has limited increases

One of the Legislature’s final acts before adjournment was to pass the state’s operating budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

“You could say that both the operating and the capital budget, the two main budgets, were maintenance-level budgets,” Edgmon said.

The capital and operating budgets, including money for next fiscal year and changes to the current fiscal year, spend $6.2 billion, when looking only at general-purpose state spending. If federal funding and things like fees, college tuition and other money is included, the budget bills spend $16.3 billion.

General-purpose state spending is down significantly. The enacted budget bills from last spring totaled more than $6.5 billion.

Legislators started the budget-drafting process with the expectation that North Slope oil prices would average $68 per barrel in the next fiscal year.

By the end, that expectation had dropped to $64, and the federal government — which pays for about 40% of the combined budget bills — had begun cutting its contributions.

As revenue projections declined, legislators slashed programs from the budget, including things like new state troopers for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

A relative handful of budget increases made it through the process — money for mental health treatment in Anchorage, early childhood education programs, and child advocacy centers, which help the survivors of child sexual abuse.

Those increases — and all other parts of the budget — are subject to approval by the governor, who has the power to veto individual line items. Every year of his term, Dunleavy has vetoed significant amounts from the budget.

In the House, legislators failed to pass one part of the budget — a roughly $200 million draw from the state’s principal savings account, the Constitutional Budget Reserve, in order to pay for a deficit in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Conditional language in the budget says that if the CBR vote fails, the state will instead take up to $100 million from the accounts of the state’s investment bank — the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority — and the state’s higher education investment fund.

The vote failed after members of the House Republican minority opposed it. Thirty votes are required to spend from the reserve.

“I wasn’t comfortable going into savings,” said Costello. “I felt like we could have done more work on the budget and involved our House Finance Committee team, which has a lot of experience, so I just wasn’t willing to give my CBR vote to go into savings.”

Costello said she feels that other members of the minority felt similarly.

Next year, legislators expect that they will need to spend heavily from the CBR in order to balance the budget.

In addition, legislators are expected to pass major policy bills, including a revival of the state’s pension program for public employees, and election reform bills.

“Hold on to your hat, Nellie, for next session, because it could be much more challenging, as we all know,” Edgmon said.

The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, or DEED, failed a federal test that saves the state millions of dollars. It is not yet clear why the state failed, but the state will now be on the hook for more than $80 million if it can’t appeal the decision.

Alaska school districts receive money from the federal government called federal impact aid. That’s money that makes up for lost revenue from land that can’t be taxed, like federal, military or Alaska Native-owned land.

If the state passes a test to show that it’s funding education equitably, called a disparity test, it can put a lot of that impact aid toward its own contribution to school districts. But a letter sent by the federal Department of Education last week says the state failed the disparity test this year.

Alexei Painter is the director of the state’s Legislative Finance Division. He said Alaska is the only state that still uses the disparity test, and it’s getting harder to pass.

“The increasing difficulties with passing the test is a lot, because education funding has gotten more complicated over the last five or 10 years,” he said.

Painter says the federal government doesn’t require DEED to take the test, but state law does. School districts that qualify for the federal money will get it regardless of the results. DEED estimates Alaska districts will receive more than $110 million in impact aid for the next fiscal year.

But the test allows the state to put federal money toward it’s own contribution to education funding – basically saving the state millions of dollars each year.

Failing the test forces the state to pay those funds itself in its obligation to schools. But there are other calculations the state’s education department can make to pass the test after requesting a hearing. If it continues to fail the test, the state could owe districts more than $80.8 million this year.

Painter said the way the budget is structured means that the money would automatically be appropriated for schools, but he says there isn’t enough money budgeted for that.

This isn’t new for DEED. The state also initially failed the test in fiscal year 2022. But it’s allowed to request a hearing with the federal government to figure out a way to pass the test. Painter said the state was able to change how it accounts for transportation funding to pass the test last time.

“I would expect them to do something similar where they hold a hearing and then ultimately resubmit a test,” he said. “Hopefully they can find a way to reconfigure and pass.”

Last Friday, DEED Commissioner Deena Bishop said the state is considering its options moving forward. DEED officials didn’t respond to questions about its plans to address the failed test.

The test is really complicated. But basically, the state passes if the funding gap between school districts is less than 25% – after getting rid of the top and bottom 5% of funded districts.

The test also doesn’t include all of the state’s education funding in its calculations.

State education funding can largely be split up into two pools. The first is foundational funding – that’s money that goes to school districts’ operating funds, paying for things like teacher salaries, curriculum and anything else needed to run schools. 

The second pool is state transportation money – that’s money that goes to school districts to provide transportation for students.

In the disparity test, DEED can exclude state student transportation funds. That’s because it qualifies for adjustments that account for significant differences in spending across the state for transportation.

But that’s not the only money many school districts spend on transportation. Some districts, like the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, use operating funds for transportation as well. Painter said DEED changed its calculations this year and tried to take those extra transportation funds out of the test calculations. 

“Under the way that they had submitted the test in prior years, they would have failed,” Painter said. “So it was an attempt to try to pass by submitting the numbers differently, and so the federal government rejected that attempt.”

DEED has 60 days from the day the letter was sent to appeal the decision and make different calculations for the test.

Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify that while the federal government doesn’t require the state to take the disparity test, state law currently does. It was also updated to reflect that DEED officials gave a statement last week.

Alaska lawmakers on Tuesday voted to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a high-profile education bill that will increase long-term funding for public schools. A joint session of the Alaska Legislature voted 46-14 in support of House Bill 57 a day after Dunleavy announced he had vetoed the bill, lawmakers’ top priority for this session.

It’s the third time in two years that lawmakers have passed a bill increasing the base student allocation, but until Tuesday, they failed to overcome vetoes from Dunleavy.

The bill increases basic per-student state funding for public schools, the so-called base student allocation, by $700. It’s a key part of the formula that determines state funding for school districts, and increasing the figure was a key issue in lawmakers’ election campaigns last fall.

It’s the first substantial increase to the education funding formula since 2017, aside from a 0.5% increase that came alongside the Alaska Reads Act in 2021.

The bill also includes a number of education policy reforms, including limits on student cellphone use, changes to state laws surrounding charter schools and a grant program that would offer performance incentives to school districts based on student reading proficiency. The bill also creates a task force to study additional reforms, including an open enrollment system that would allow students to attend schools outside of their home districts.

Whether the funding ultimately flows to school districts, though, is uncertain. Alaska’s Constitution gives the governor the power to unilaterally reduce or eliminate line items from the budget. Dunleavy said Monday he’s considering whether to veto a portion of school funding from the budget but has not made a final decision.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.