Proposed Bills Would Boost School Funding
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
Kevin Coughlin and Allison Sayer - CRR Staff
Of the 129 education-related bills being considered by the state legislature, a few in particular are attracting the attention of school districts statewide: House Bills 272, 273, and 220.
HBs 272 and 273 would increase and stabilize the Base Student Allocation (BSA) while HB 220 would give state employees, including educators, the option to choose a defined-benefit retirement plan. All three bills are currently in consideration by the House Finance Committee.
Rep. Andi Story (D, Juneau) sponsored both HB 272 and 273 and, in conferences, considered each a “modest increase” to the BSA. The BSA is how much money per student the state will fund each district, and has remained unchanged since 2017.
HB 272 would boost the BSA $223 per student, from $5,930 to $6,153, effective July 1 of this year, then would increase it another $55 to $6,208 on July 1, 2023.
According to the fiscal note with the bill, that would mean an additional $267,894 to the Copper River School District from the state next year, up from about $6.8 million to about $7 million. The measure would then add another $66,073 in 2023, up to about $7.1 million for the state’s allocation to the CRSD.
With HB 273, future BSAs would be determined by the “average percentage of increase over the first three of the preceding four calendar years ... of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Alaska prepared by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.” The CPI measures inflation. HB 273 would take effect July 1, 2024.
Allison Sayer spoke with Copper River School District Superintendent Thérèse Ashton to ask what these bills would do for the school district, if passed.
“For our district it’s a pretty good boost for one year,” Ashton said of HB 272. “We could use it to keep a salaried position.”
However, she said the downside is “that is what we’ve always had to do. We fight for money, we get it, and it’s good for maybe one year.”
If she had to choose one bill, Ashton would choose HB 273. It would not give as much funding to the district immediately, but would provide some “inflation proofing” for the future.
“Instead of going every year to fight for inflation proofing or just getting more money we can focus on other issues,” she said.
According to Ashton, the need to find and secure funding year after year takes focus away from other important issues such as the school curriculum.
Ashton explained that neither of these bills would provide enough funding to increase the number of teachers within CRSD. They would only help to keep the positions that the district already has.
“Right now we have some federal grants: the American Relief Plan (ARP) and CARES act. Those will help in the next couple of years.”
“One of the things that I’ve never liked doing is spending grant money on salaries because the grants go away,” Ashton continued. “However we have such an issue with having enough staff to take care of some of the learning loss that has happened. I need interventionists.”
Ashton continued, “We need to put all our efforts to keep people back on track.” Ashton said. “The grants are paying for some of those interventions. Hopefully by the time we pay out those grants we get a shot in the arm or the funding is inflation proofed.
People say, ‘You can’t just throw money at something,’ but I’m saying, ‘We have lacked the amount of money we need to do it right for a long time and after these years’ effect on education we need to get more people in here.’”
Although the schools have been “flat funded” year after year per student, the cost of staff has increased. Teachers and other staff receive raises with experience and the cost of health care has also steadily increased. Ashton said, “Just those two things- salary and benefits- are 80 percent of our costs.” Rising fuel costs add to the dilemma.
Ashton was hesitant to criticize legislators who did not support the education funding and teacher retirement bills.
“It’s very complex,” she said, “I’m in a similar position because I have to make decisions.” However, she is planning to lobby in Juneau for increased funding.
Neither Rep. George Rauscher (R, Sutton) nor Rep. Mike Cronk (R, Tok/Northway) returned calls for comment. Cronk serves on the House Education Committee, and, when that committee considered passage of HB 272 on Feb. 28, he voted “no recommendation.”
The committee’s four Democrats, including Story and three of the six cosponsors of the bill, all voted to pass it, while the two Republicans other than Cronk voted against passage. The Education Committee then referred the bill to the Finance Committee, where it received its first hearing March 7. It is still under consideration.
In Story’s sponsor statement, she said, “Setting this number in advance offers much needed predictability and stability in the budget process” for school districts.
After HB 272 would increase the BSA by specified amounts for two years, HB 273 would then “inflation proof” future BSAs, according to Story.
“[HB 273] also creates a steady and predictable budget that won’t rise and fall when the market experiences drastic years of growth or loss,” Story said in her sponsor statement.
Story and her three fellow Democrats on the Education Committee voted to pass the bill. Cronk again offered no recommendation.
In committee, Rep. Mike Prax (R, North Pole) argued against future funding, saying he did not want to “force future legislatures.” Prax and fellow Republican Ronald Gillham (Soldotna) voted against passage.
The Education Committee then referred the bill to the Finance Committee, where it received its first hearing March 17. It is still under consideration.
HB 220, sponsored by Rep. Grier Hopkins (D, Fairbanks) would offer state employees, including educators, the option to choose a defined-benefit retirement plan. Since 2006, state employees have been offered a defined-contribution plan.
“Fifteen years of decreased recruitment and retention of educators, public safety officials and state and municipal employees have shown the shortfalls of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ Defined Contribution System,” Hopkins said in his sponsor statement.
The bill was first heard in the House Labor & Commerce Committee, which passed it on to the House Finance Committee, where it was heard on March 8.
HB 220’s potential impact on benefits would have less of an immediate impact on CRSD according to Ashton. “I have a fairly young crew,” she said.
She does feel that the bill could have a generally positive impact on CRSD by attracting more people to the profession of teaching and to teaching in Alaska. “People are leaving the profession,” she said.
What happens if neither HB 272 nor HB 273 pass?
“This year we’re already hiring and getting contracts because we do have some federal funding. We won’t lose staff this year. The year after we would probably have to make some choices,” Ashton said.