JUNEAU — In a move that lawmakers celebrated as “historic,” the Alaska Legislature on Tuesday voted to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a $180 million increase to the state‘s $1.2 billion education budget.
The vote means that Alaska’s education funding formula will be permanently and significantly increased for the first time since 2017. It is also the first time that lawmakers have successfully overridden a governor’s veto in more than a decade.
Lawmakers overrode the veto in a 46-14 vote, exceeding the 40-legislator threshold, a day after Dunleavy said he vetoed the bill because “there is no evidence that a permanent increase in the Base Student Allocation will improve educational outcomes.”
The vote passed just hours before the legislative session ended Tuesday, with no floor speeches or fanfare. But after lawmakers adjourned, revelry began, with majority members cheering and chanting behind closed doors.
The override vote was the culmination of years of work by lawmakers and advocates to increase education spending in a state that is increasingly struggling with poor teacher retention, dismal test scores and crumbling infrastructure.
Legislative leaders in the House and Senate have said that the education budget must be increased after years of funding stagnation that has left districts closing schools, cutting programs and increasing class sizes.
Lawmakers tried unsuccessfully three times before to override Dunleavy’s education vetoes — once earlier this year, and twice last year.
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Majority lawmakers began the year with a proposal to increase education funding by $1,800, but eventually backed away from that number as revenue projections declined. In April, Dunleavy vetoed a $1,000 increase to the state‘s $5,960 BSA, leading lawmakers to adopt a $700 increase instead, coupled with some education policy provisions.
“It is a little bit bittersweet that we have to go through all this struggle and all this effort for years just to get an increase that is 39% of what we need,” said Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat. “So we‘re going to have to continue this discussion and dialogue going forward.”
House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent, called the vote “historic.”
“I think the Legislature took the final step to stand up for schools in Alaska,” he said. “We‘re not going to stand by and allow political differences to rule the day.”
Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, said the vote “took a lot of courage on many people‘s part.”
“Those folks who have been very supportive of the governor in the past had a pretty hard time, I think, voting to override the governor. But those of us who have been pro-education for a long time found it rather easy.”
In a statement after the vote, Dunleavy said he supports increased funding “when it is paired with real, meaningful reforms.”
“This bill did not meet that standard,” he said. Dunleavy said the bill “does nothing to address why Alaska ranks near the bottom in reading and math.”
Lawmakers have countered that the funding increase will allow districts to shrink class sizes and retain experienced teachers, steps that are correlated with improving educational outcomes.
Dunleavy, meanwhile, has said that his demands for an open enrollment policy and a new method for establishing charter schools would be more effective in addressing Alaska’s bottom-of-the-nation ranking in national assessments.
“This veto override does not end the conversation. It raises the stakes,” Dunleavy wrote.
Wasilla Sen. Mike Shower, one of 14 Republicans who voted against overriding Dunleavy’s veto, said he was disappointed that lawmakers hadn’t agreed to the governor’s policy demands.
“Because nobody was willing to do that compromise, we‘re going to end up in veto battles, and it also puts the funding at risk,” said Shower. “The daylight between us was small, and people just dug their heels in.”
Dunleavy’s policy wish list includes a measure that would allow students to attend the public school of their choice, regardless of where they live. Majority lawmakers said that policy was untenable but agreed to convene a policy task force in the coming months to study the idea.
Dunleavy has not ruled out vetoing education funding directly from the budget bill. Such a decision would come in late June, when lawmakers are not in session and are unable to respond immediately, and when school districts have already finalized their plans for the coming school year.
Stevens said it would be “very hard” for lawmakers to meet during the interim to vote on whether to override a budget veto. But lawmakers could vote on overriding such a veto when they reconvene in January, potentially giving school districts the funding mandated under the new law.
Overriding a budget veto requires a higher threshold of support — 45 out of 60 lawmakers. Sen. Löki Tobin, an Anchorage Democrat who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said she was heartened by Tuesday’s vote, which passed with support from 46 legislators. Still, she said, a budget veto “would create immeasurable chaos in the public school system.”
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Tom Klaameyer, president of the National Education Association - Alaska, a union representing most public school teachers in the state, said in a statement that educators “are exhausted by the back and forth and uncertainty around education funding.”
“I hope Governor Dunleavy heard the legislature’s message and will respect the override,” Klaameyer said.
Republican lawmakers who supported the override on Tuesday were noncommittal about how they would vote on a potential budget veto from Dunleavy.
“I’ve supported the governor. If you look at my voting record, I’ve really been an advocate for him,” said Minority Leader Mia Costello. “What you saw there is just a difference of opinion on this one bill.”
The override vote could have political fallout that will reverberate in Alaska politics for the months to come. The Anchorage Republican Women’s Club, an organization that fundraises and campaigns for GOP candidates, vowed to pull its support from legislators who overrode Dunleavy’s veto.
Rep. Elexie Moore, a Wasilla Republican, initially vowed to override Dunleavy’s veto but then voted Tuesday against overriding.
“I had an outpouring of emails and messages and calls from home,” she said. “I have to consider the bulk of who I’m representing.”
House Bill 57 originally passed the Legislature last month in a 48-11 tally. Three GOP House members who originally supported the bill later backtracked, siding with Dunleavy’s veto: Reps. Moore and Jubilee Underwood of Wasilla, and Sarah Vance of Homer.
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It is a shift from last year’s veto override attempt, when 17 Republicans who supported a compromise education bill later favored Dunleavy’s veto. Last year’s failed veto override vote later shaped several legislative races, playing a part in losses of two incumbents who had sided with Dunleavy.
Sen. Mike Cronk, a Tok Republican, said last year that he was “trashed” for not overriding Dunleavy’s veto. On Tuesday, after voting in favor of overriding Dunleavy veto, Cronk said the funding increase in the bill is not sufficient for schools in his district, “but it‘s going to help.”
“This has nothing to do with politics at all. This is about providing education to our kids,” said Cronk.
Voting yes
Reps. Robyn Niayuq Burke, D-Utqiagvik; Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks; Maxine Dibert, D-Fairbanks; Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham; Ted Eischeid, D-Anchorage; Zack Fields, D-Anchorage; Neal Foster, D-Nome; Alyse Galvin, I-Anchorage; Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage; Carolyn Hall, D-Anchorage; Sara Hannan, D-Juneau; Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka; Ky Holland, I-Anchorage; Nellie Unangiq Jimmie, D-Toksook Bay; Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage; Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage; Donna Mears, D-Anchorage; Jeremy Bynum, R-Ketchikan; Mia Costello, R-Anchorage; Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage; Bill Elam, R-Nikiski; Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage; Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage; Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks; Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna; Dan Saddler, R-Eagle River; David Nelson, R-Anchorage; Andi Story, D-Juneau; Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak; Sens. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak; Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau; Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski; Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage; Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage; Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; James Kaufman, R-Anchorage; Matt Claman, D-Anchorage; Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage; Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage; Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage; Kelly Merrick, R-Eagle River; Mike Cronk, R-Tok; Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; Donny Olson, D-Golovin; Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks; and Robert Yundt, R-Wasilla.
Voting no
Reps. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River; DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer; Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake; Elexie Moore, R-Wasilla; Mike Prax, R-North Pole; George Rauscher, R-Sutton; Rebecca Schwanke, R-Glennallen; Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla; Frank Tomaszewski, R-Fairbanks; Jubilee Underwood, R-Wasilla; Sarah Vance, R-Homer; Sens. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer; Mike Shower, R-Wasilla; and Robert Myers, R-North Pole.
[Correction: The original version of this story included an incorrect vote tally.]
