Education funding and policy reforms are front and center this session, reflecting the growing concern over the academic future of the next generation of Alaskans. I don’t believe that there is a single legislator that doesn’t care about educating Alaska’s children. I firmly believe that we as a state can and must do much better in cultivating performance in Alaska’s education system.

Here’s a little of my perspective:

Two years ago, I was proud to vote for the bipartisan Alaska Reads Act, which adopted three main provisions: reading testing and interventions, quality Pre-K provisions, and a virtual education library for districts to share and use. The Alaska Reads Act wasn’t perfect (SB 192 is currently moving through the legislature to update and fix some issues) but it was a major step forward for Pre-K and early reading intervention. It also included some one-time funding.

Alongside those measures in the Alaska Reads Act, I also voted yes on the bill to increase the Base Student Allocation last year (SB 52). We were able to pass that substantial increase in such a way that it still fit into a balanced budget. SB 52 also included pupil transportation funding and transparency measures requiring the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to collaborate with the Department of Education and Early Development to gather data on the progress of each high school graduating class, which would guide future system improvements.

Our schools are at a critical failure point in multiple districts statewide. After years of inflation and flat funding, we must provide some level of increased funding to be able to keep the system running. After all, you can’t improve a system if it’s in a state of critical failure. However, we need to put some serious work into reestablishing trust in the integrity of our districts, specifically to address how they are perceived in terms of costs relative to academic performance and achievement.

The discussions of how to best achieve that perception shift are ongoing in the capitol building, in districts, and in classrooms. As a relevant aside, a separate piece of legislation, my Executive Budget Act reform, would provide a statewide performance management framework. If that bill were to pass we would also have the ability to look back upon past key goals and objectives so that we can see when strategies or metrics change.

Back to this year’s actions on education: The bill receiving the most attention this year is SB 140. When we passed this bill on the Senate side and sent it over to the house, it was focused solely on assisting schools with low internet speeds get better broadband service. In the first two weeks of session, the bill was heard in the House Rules Committee and other provisions were added to the bill: a BSA increase was added (a little less than half the increase in SB 52), some charter school provisions, correspondence school provisions, teacher bonus provisions, and deaf/hard-of-hearing provisions. This bill still has to go through more steps (with more possibilities for changes) before the bill can come back to the Senate.

I’ll keep an eye on SB 140 to ensure that it will have beneficial impact on Alaska’s children. I encourage you to reach out with questions or any input on education.